The Second Glance: Women

Women is the second integrated exhibition in the series The Second Glance, and was produced in collaboration with the organisation Frauentreff Olga, a drop-in and counselling centre for drug-using women, trans women, and sex workers. The show analyses the traditional gender roles and challenges the functions ascribed to women in society – for example, as goddesses, heroines, prostitutes, saints, queens, academics – and on the role of women in society. In six themed paths featuring 62 objects dating from the 4th to the 18th century, these women are situated within their own historical contexts and also discussed through the critical lens of the 21st century.

To this day, art history continues to be framed by a male perspective, and this perspective also defines the art-historical canon. The influence and histories of women were long ignored in Western museums. The invisibility of women continues to be a common feature of virtually all museums and collections of the so-called “Old Masters”.

The overarching goal of this exhibition is to expand the traditional museum discourse to incorporate some of the narratives, contributions and achievements of historical and contemporary women. To this end, we have put together six paths through the Bode-Museum which open up new perspectives on the artworks, while also suggesting new avenues for future research in the field.