Reception, deception, illusion and magic: feminism and theoretical practice

This article is an exploration of the relationship between ideology theory, feminism and “theoretical practice”. It is an attempt to formulate a “figurative semiotics” in which theory is “seen” to be done. There is a tendency within feminist art whereby, as a strategy to address “actual readers” and to concretely affect the “real” world, artists humorously exploit the association of art, magic, illusion and deception in order to shock, move or activate their audiences. We argue that such feminist art, which humorously enhances art’s potentially carnalising impact on a gendered spectator, can be linked to a longer tradition of ideology-sensitive picaresque art which humorously keeps alive an awareness of art’s power to deceive.