[28] A.I.R: Artist-Run Cooperative Gallery

Cooperative Journal

Established in 1972, A.I.R is the first artist cooperative gallery for women in the United States. They maintain an exhibition space in Brooklyn, NY and showcase the work of hundreds of women artists each year. They also offer ways for members to build a support network and engage with the community through public open calls, fellowships, workshops, lectures on feminism, and discussion groups. Their multi-media exhibitions have explored themes of identity politics, historical archives, fractals, the symbiotic relationship between our body and environment, and so much more.

In this episode I speak with member Susan Stainman about how A.I.R has cultivated a space for women artists to be fully autonomous and given a platform in a male dominated industry. We speak about the history of female oppression in the United States, the lack of representation of women in the art world, benefits of membership like retaining majority of sales and camaraderie, how artist cooperatives can shift the centralization of wealth in the art industry that’s worth more than transportation and agriculture, and more wisdom.

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