In conjuncton with the release of the Hotel Theory Reader, Fillip, REDCAT, and the Or Gallery are pleased to present a screening of The Question of Manet’s Olympia: Posed and Skirted (1989–92) a filmed performative lecture by the V-Girls.

The Hotel Theory is the fourth title in Fillip’s ongoing Folio Series presenting writing by critics, artists, and curators that engages specific and recurring questions on international contemporary art. This anthology explores the possibilities of theory as an art form, bringing together ideas initially explored in an exhibition organized in 2015 at REDCAT | CalArts’ Downtown Center for Contemporary Arts. The book assembles a collection of texts by David Antin, Art & Language, Ruth Estévez, Bruce Hainley, Wayne Koestenbaum, Chris Kraus, Snejanka Mihaylova, Sohrab Mohebbi, Cally Spooner, V-Girls, Danna Vajda, and Tirdad Zolghadr.

Edited by Sohrab Mohebbi in collaboration with Ruth Estévez, Hotel Theory Reader is co-published by Fillip and REDCAT (Roy and Edna Disney / CalArts Theater), Los Angeles.

V-Girls was a feminist performance group based in New York. Active between 1986 and 1996, its members included Martha Baer, Jessica Chalmers, Erin Cramer, Andrea Fraser, and Marianne Weem. The group created satirical scenes of staged art discourse, organizing performances in the form of academic panels, fictional papers, and humorous critiques of art historical analysis.