ABSTRACT
While locative media art is well-documented in its overt social and political aims, investigations into the role of social media feminism and locative art practices have yet to receive much scholarly attention. Social media feminism, in part popularized by celebrity culture, has made space for re-examinations of feminist thought, particularly around notions of intersectionality. For International Women’s Day 2019, Melbourne-based creative hub BE Collective Culture installed a billboard mural outside Bakehouse Studios calling on passers-by to AMPLIFY YOUR FEMINISM and featuring a portrait collage of prominent local activists. The installation was accompanied by an Instagram post on the collective’s page that argued “Your Feminism isn’t Feminism Unless it’s Intersectional.” This chapter critically reviews the BE Collective Culture installation and accompanying social media posts as a case study for how locative media and social media feminist activism are colliding to reinvigorate debates about feminist activity and the importance of intersectionality. The method used involves an ethnography of the BE Collective Culture Instagram page and attendance at future BE Collective Culture events to explore how the artwork and its distribution through social media create copresence between audiences and artists. Intimacy generated through copresence allows for greater distribution of the artwork and increased mobility for artists and audiences. Curated copresence with artworks suggests mobile media art should use social media to create broader community access to politically engaged artworks, which, in turn, advances intersectional feminist politics.
