Standing on a very narrow history of patriarchal art that many of us grew up on. 

This collection of H.W. Janson's "A History of Art" books is the last thing left in my office before I retire. Coincidentally, my office was previously a women’s dorm room at UNC. I used to use these books in a performance designed to deconstruct art history on the first day of my Women and Gender in Contemporary Art Course. Sometimes standing on them in silence till I became tired and lost my balance. Other times sitting in the corner or laying on a table reading all the white European male names of the included artists out loud, one after another ad nauseum. Dragging those books to class and plunking them down (sometimes in anger, sometimes as if to discard them) one at a time was all part of the performance. It symbolized the weight of the male artists who had been selected to be historicized and important by the white male art historians and the capitalist art world. The "Standing Performance" amplified the fact that I could not see the work of other women like me or a diverse set of women artists when I went to a museum or read about art as a kid and young adult. The performance changed from year to year, after that initial stage of the performance (me balancing on the books) we would start learning about women and gender in contemporary art and make new lists. Always important to understand who was left out before digging in.