A Feminist Intersection of an Artist Book and Performance: Carolee Schneemann’s ABC—We Print Anything—In the Cards
Presentation Type
Event
Start Date
8-3-2026 9:36 PM
Description
ABC—We Print Anything—In the Cards (1976) exemplifies several 1970s art phenomena, including new approaches to self‑portraiture, documentary practice, and the blurring of media, as well as rethinking relations between artist/writer and audience/reader. While Carolee Schneemann is best known for provocative performances and films such as Eye/Body (1963), Meat Joy (1964), Fuses (1964–67), and Interior Scroll (1975), this focus has overshadowed her broader practice. ABC manifests concerns that emerged in the 1960s, yet its dual status as performance and artist’s book has complicated its reception. This paper offers a close reading of ABC to examine how the book functions as the content of a performance piece and how it challenges traditional notions of reading and viewing.
Kathleen Wentrack, Ph.D., is Professor and Chair of the Department of Art and Design at Queensborough Community College, CUNY. She holds a Master’s degree from the University of Amsterdam and a Ph.D. from the CUNY Graduate Center. Her publications on Carolee Schneemann include “Carolee Schneemann: Eye/Body #5,” The Female Side of God. Art and Ritual, Jewish Museum Frankfurt, 2020 and “Female Sexuality in Performance and Film: Erotic, Political, Controllable? The Contested Female Body in the Work of Carolee Schneemann and VALIE EXPORT,” Konsthistorisk Tidskrift, 2014. Other select publications include: “1970s Feminist Practice as Heterotopian: The Stichting Vrouwen in de Beeldende Kunst and the Schule für kreativen Feminismus,” in All Women Art Spaces in the Long 1970s, Liverpool University Press, 2018. She is a Managing Committee member of The Feminist Art Project.
Relational Format
Conference proceeding
Recommended Citation
Wentrack, Kathleen, "A Feminist Intersection of an Artist Book and Performance: Carolee Schneemann’s ABC—We Print Anything—In the Cards" (2026). Women of Photography: A 24-Hour Conference-a-thon Celebrating International Women’s Day. 52.
https://egrove.olemiss.edu/womenofphotography/2026/schedule/52
A Feminist Intersection of an Artist Book and Performance: Carolee Schneemann’s ABC—We Print Anything—In the Cards
ABC—We Print Anything—In the Cards (1976) exemplifies several 1970s art phenomena, including new approaches to self‑portraiture, documentary practice, and the blurring of media, as well as rethinking relations between artist/writer and audience/reader. While Carolee Schneemann is best known for provocative performances and films such as Eye/Body (1963), Meat Joy (1964), Fuses (1964–67), and Interior Scroll (1975), this focus has overshadowed her broader practice. ABC manifests concerns that emerged in the 1960s, yet its dual status as performance and artist’s book has complicated its reception. This paper offers a close reading of ABC to examine how the book functions as the content of a performance piece and how it challenges traditional notions of reading and viewing.
Kathleen Wentrack, Ph.D., is Professor and Chair of the Department of Art and Design at Queensborough Community College, CUNY. She holds a Master’s degree from the University of Amsterdam and a Ph.D. from the CUNY Graduate Center. Her publications on Carolee Schneemann include “Carolee Schneemann: Eye/Body #5,” The Female Side of God. Art and Ritual, Jewish Museum Frankfurt, 2020 and “Female Sexuality in Performance and Film: Erotic, Political, Controllable? The Contested Female Body in the Work of Carolee Schneemann and VALIE EXPORT,” Konsthistorisk Tidskrift, 2014. Other select publications include: “1970s Feminist Practice as Heterotopian: The Stichting Vrouwen in de Beeldende Kunst and the Schule für kreativen Feminismus,” in All Women Art Spaces in the Long 1970s, Liverpool University Press, 2018. She is a Managing Committee member of The Feminist Art Project.