Hysterical: Radical Creativity Favorite 

Practitioner: 

Date: 

Mar 6 2024

Location: 

London - United Kingdom

For Women’s History Month 2024, Hysterical Collective presented: Hysterical: Radical Creativity – the third instalment of the annual charity art exhibition and cultural programme taking place in March each year. Co-founded and curated by Eliza Hatch of Cheer Up Luv and Bee Illustrates, Hysterical is a queer and feminist-led exhibition and event showcase; centred around community, collaboration, and activism.

The annual event platforms many women and non-binary artists reclaiming the term ‘hysterical’, and using their voices for change. In 2022 Bee Illustrates and Eliza Hatch teamed up to create and curate Hysterical, following their debut’s massive success, Hysterical returned in 2023 – described by the Evening Standard as ‘an intimate and cathartic exploration of misogyny.’

Hysterical facilitates a space to celebrate the innovative and subversive work of women and marginalised creatives who use their practice as a form of protest; showcasing work from underrepresented artists.

Hysterical 2024 will hosted a roster of inspiring events, including a creative workshop from Beth Suzanna, a book swap social with Babes in Development and a skate + sketch workshop at local skatepark and brewery Hop King. This year Hysterical Collective are supporting Galop, with 100% of event ticket sales and 20% of work sales being donated to charity.

Information from Bermondsey Project Space

External sources: 

https://project-space.london/hysterical-2024
Posted by lucieconjeaud on May 3 2024

Staff rating: 

0

Effectiveness

How does this project help?

Activates (people)Energizes and organizes people into action. Can include emotion work
Amplifies (issue or campaign)Brings public and political attention to an issue or campaign.  Can include prefigurative action, making the invisible visible.
Does nothing (at all)Doesn't really have an impact, beyond possibly expressing the artist-activist's dissatisfaction with the world.
OtherHelps bring about change in a way not accounted for in the options above. Please describe how it does this in the text box below.
Provides (a useful service)Provides a useful social service.
Shifts (culture)Shifts the cultural landscape in order to imagine and enable change.
Strengthens (community)Strengthens, builds and celebrates community through ritual and/or symbol.

Timeframe For change

This project seems to be part of a campaign with a clear short-term goal. Short-term goals tend to be things like: create or repeal a law; get a President impeached; make the city administration repair a sidewalk. A campaign with a short-term goal needs a clear theory of change, complete with targets that can be cajoled or pressured into effecting the goal.
The short-term goal is to foster community and collaboration, giving a platform to women and non-binary artists to reclaim the term "hysterical." This event creates an opportunity for women and marginalized creatives and also provides events and workshops for anyone participating and interested in learning.
This project seems to be part of a campaign with a clear long-term goal. Long-term goals tend to be things like: end racism; end homophobia; make the sun stand still in the sky. A campaign with a long-term goal also needs to have some kind of theory of change.
The long-term goal would be negating the sentiment of women as "hysterical" and working towards gender equality.

Notes

I believe this project is quite effective, especially now in its third annual instalment -- not to mention, this even has material benefits by donating 100% of ticket sales and 20% of work sales to charity. They put their money where their mouth is by combining events, installations and workshops together.