Spanning three generations of artists from Asia, Europe as well as North and South America, the exhibition reframes the accepted artistic canon by presenting women’s fundamental role in the development of immersive art. Situated at the threshold between art, architecture and design, the term environments was adopted in 1949 by the founder of Spatialism, Lucio Fontana, to define a new type of artwork that actively involved its audience. Over the years, environments became a major feature in the international art world, however not unusually, historic narrative focuses almost exclusively on the works of male artists.

Inside Other Spaces is the first show of its kind to reconstruct the immersive art works, following a three-year research process, supported by the help of conservators and researchers digging deep into archival material, such as photographs, architectural plans, reviews, materials’ lists and providers’ invoices. Andrea Lissoni, Artistic Director, Haus der Kunst, said: “Given the experimental nature of environments – most of them were destroyed right after their display – their art historiography is characterised by a sense of loss. Therefore, the erasure of the fundamental contribution of women is a double loss. The reconstruction of these historical and to-be-historicised environments as close to their original condition as possible aims to bridge the gap between then and now and let the works of women artists come to the fore.”

Trailblazing feminist artist Judy Chicago’s iconic Feather Room, described as “a soft feminine space; an architecture that disappears” was originally filled with 300 pounds of chicken feathers one foot deep, a soft and airy room that induces a temporary sense of loss in terms of the room’s beginning and gravitational pull. It has since been developed, and updated with cruelty-free materials at Chicago’s wishes. The environment can be read as a critical dialogue with the tradition of hard materials adopted in the history of male-dominated architecture.