From Conceptualism to Feminism Lucy Lippard's Numbers Shows, 1969-74

Four exhibitions of contemporary art curated by Lucy Lippard have become renowned as her 'numbers shows'. Each took the population of the city in which it was shown as its title: 557,087 in Seattle, 955,000 in Vancouver, 2,972,453 in Buenos Aires and c.7,500 opening in Valencia, California, before touring the US and to London.This book follows Lippard's curatorial trajectory, analysing her transition from a writer about art to a maker of exhibitions, and tracing her growing political engagement and involvement with feminism.Extensive photographic material is complemented by a major new essay by Cornelia Butler and interviews with Seth Siegelaub and artists Agnes Denes, Alice Aycock, Eleanor Antin and Mierle Laderman Ukeles.The volume also includes critical responses written at the time by Peter Plagens and Griselda Pollock, and an analysis of artists initiatives in Argentina that give a context for Lippard's emerging political consciousness by Pip Day.This is the third publication in the Exhibitions Histories series, co-published with Afterall Books, London.