De-/Re-Construction of Romantic Love in Feminist Media: I'm Not the Girl Who Misses Much (1986) and Fuses (1964-1967)

This paper focuses on the relationship between feminism and romantic love, analysing the intersection of these two sensitivities, which are often perceived as being at opposite poles in the collective imagination, while also exploring potential ways of “reconciling” these perspectives. By examining the necessity of using one’s own body as primary material in artistic creation and the increasingly blurred boundaries between life and art-within the context of multiple gender imbalances-the study presents two case studies: Pipilotti Rist's video performance I'm Not The Girl Who Misses Much (1986), which addresses the aggression of internalising masculinist discourse while critiquing the harmful impact of pop music, and Carolee Schneemann's experimental !lm Fuses (1964-1967), in which the artist and her then-partner engage in sexual acts over different seasons, observed by their cat. Beyond highlighting feminine and feminist creativity, one of the aims of this research is to emphasise the sometimes-significant role of art in social and ideological change.