Documentary celebrates feminist performance art hub
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Cheri Gaulke’s documentary Acting Like Women profiles the Woman’s Building in Los Angeles, a center for feminist art and activism during the 1970s and 80s.
Judy Chicago, Sheila de Bretteville, and Arlene Raven founded the building in 1973 to host classes, meetings, exhibitions, and performances, attracting artists and groups like the National Organization for Women. Gaulke began the project after retiring from teaching and wanting to document the history that drew her to Los Angeles decades earlier.
Gaulke discovered many artists relocated to Los Angeles specifically to participate in the Woman’s Building community, drawn by its supportive and feminist environment. The documentary focuses on the development of performance art as a new medium, allowing artists to express themselves and address political issues through their bodies and experiences. Gaulke and collaborator Anne Gauldin spent seven years researching and fundraising for the film, accessing archives from the Woman’s Building and the Getty Research Institute.
Because few original performances were filmed, Gaulke and Gauldin supplemented existing materials with interviews from 50 artists and art historians, including Judy Chicago and the Guerrilla Girls, and recreated one protest using stop-motion animation. The film aims to share the history of this innovative art movement and its lasting influence on contemporary artists, with screenings planned across the United States, Portugal, and Italy.
