IAWA "More Than the Sum of Our Body Parts" Exhibit Inventory

IAWA

CAUS

More Than the Sum of Our Body Parts
an exhibit by CARY, 1992-1993

Papers, 1934-2000
MS 94-023
2.0 cu. ft.

Citation: More Than the Sum of Our Body Parts,1992-1993, an exhibit by CARY, MS 94-023, International Archive of Women in Architecture, University Libraries, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE
CARY, Chicks in Architecture Refuse to Yield (to Atavistic Thinking in Design and Society), was founded in 1992 as an offshoot of Chicago Women in Architecture by Chicago architects Carol Crandall, Kay Janis, and Sally Levine. The group originally formed as a Chicago-based collective whose goals are to focus attention on the status-quo of women and the position of women in the field of architecture.

The group designed and produced an exhibit called "More Than the Sum of Our Body Parts" that was shown at the Randolph Street Gallery in Chicago from June 16 to July 2, 1993. The purpose of the exhibit was to illustrate the many ways that women architects are discriminated against in the workplace by their male colleagues. The exhibit was comprised of sculptural and multimedia installations, focusing on such topics as the sexual discrimination and harassment of women architects, and the glass ceiling said to be limiting the advance of women in architecture.
SCOPE AND CONTENT NOTE
The collection is composed almost exclusively of materials created for the exhibit or in preparation of the exhibit. It consists of vignette sketches, drawings and floorplans of the exhibit layout, directory of members list, press releases, announcements and newsletters, copies of articles advertising the exhibit, slides used in the exhibit and of the exhibit, a videotape of the exhibit set-up and opening reception, letters, meeting minutes, mounted boards with dates and facts, an audiocassette, exhibit catalogs, a frieze of a series of caryatids (architectural columns in the shape of a woman) imposed with the faces of CARY members, and a large cut-out of the body of a caryatid.
PROVENANCE
The materials were donated in August 1994 by Arlene Hopkins, IAWA Board of Advisors member, via Kay Janis of Queensland, Australia (formerly of Chicago).
CONTAINER LIST
Box 1
Folder 1: Biographical information about CARY founders.
Folder 2: CARY members directory.
Folder 3: Proposal for exhibit.
Folder 4: Meeting notes, agendas, and summaries prior to the exhibit.
Folder 5: Correspondence with Susan Maxman, 1993 President of the American Institute of Architects.
Folder 6: Letters to andfrom potential contributors for funding of exhibit.
Folder 7: Drawings and sketches in design of exhibit.
Folder 8: Summary of vignettes from exhibit.
Folder 9: Press releases for Chicago'93, the Centennial celebration of the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition (Chicago Women in Architecture was a participating organization).
Folder 10: Postcards advertising exhibit.
Folder 11: Exhibit catalogs.
Folder 12: Notecards with sexist comments made by men to women architects in the workplace.
Folder 13: Newspaper clippings (copies) about the exhibit.
Folder 14: Miscellaneous.
Folder 15: Box of slides of the exhibit and Fun Facts, an audiocassette used in the exhibit (Watercooler Wisdom), and a videotape of the exhibit set-up and opening reception.

Box 2
Frieze Time--103 mounted boards (measuring 8 1/2" x 11"), each with a date (from 1857 to 1993) and a fact about the status of women's place, advances, and hardships in the world of architecture.

Oversized
A frieze of caryatids with the imposed faces of CARY members, and a cut-out of a caryatid.

Processed by Laura Smith, Manuscripts Curator, August 1994