Judy Chicago and Nadya Tolokonnikova Team Up for New Artwork – ARTnews.com

As the feminist gains of the last 50 years slip away, especially with the repeal of the Roe v. Wade, feminist artist Judy Chicago teamed up with Nadya Tolokonnikova, of the collective Pussy Riot, to transform her “What if women ruled the world?” series for a participatory art project. This new version is enabled by blockchain with the hope of creating a Web3 community dedicated to gender rights.

The series’ questions were at the center of a series of works that Judy Chicago created in 2020 for a Dior catwalk. The banners, large textile works in gold, purple and green fabrics, each represented a response to that. “Will there be equal parenting?” asked one banner. Another asked the question, “Will it be private property?”

Now anyone with an internet connection can respond to these inquiries.

On the Web3 platform DMINTI, and on a related site, Chicago’s series of banners, each with its own question, are clickable. A form follows where the viewer can respond to the request with 150 characters, or with an image. Selected answers will be collected and made into an NFT.

Tolokonnikova is well connected in the NFT community, and earlier this year helped found and run Ukraine DAO, which raised $7 million to help Ukrainians. She and Chicago announced this new artwork at ICA Miami on Thursday.

“We want men and women around the world to think about how to reclaim our humanity, reclaim how we talk to each other, and most importantly, to reclaim the planet,” Chicago said on the late-night panel.

Naturally, the first person to submit their answer to Chicago’s “what if women ruled the world” question was Tolokonnikova.

The two met to record Tolokonnikova’s response at Chicago’s home in New Mexico. Chicago recalled feeling incredibly emotional as she and Tolokonnikova worked through the questions. Still, she noticed Tolokonnikova wasn’t as affected, and Chicago asked her why.

“I can’t stop thinking about her answer,” Chicago said. “She told me that during her trial” — over “hooliganism” in Russia back in 2012 — “she taught herself how to control her emotions, because ‘I didn’t want to be the little girl that Putin made cry.'”

The trial that aimed to put the Pussy Riot members in prison for staging a protest performance in a church led to Tolokonnikova’s imprisonment and time in a labor camp.

With this new work, Chicago and Tolokonnikova hope to speak back to the despotic rulers who have tried to interrupt gender equality, encouraging people around the world to consider a more positive future in the process.