WHAT IF WOMEN RULED THE WORLD?

From December 2023 to January 2025, the National Museum of Contemporary Art (EMΣT) presents a cycle of exhibitions, in four parts, exclusively dedicated to the work of women artists or artists who identify as female, under the broader umbrella title, What if Women Ruled the World? Initiated by EMΣT artistic director Katerina Gregos and inspired by Yael Bartana’s 2017 neon work of the same name – which is now on display on the North and South façades of the EMΣT building – this cycle of exhibitions is based on an often-repeated hypothetical question: What would happen if governance was characterised by female traits?

Would there be less violence? Would we observe more justice in leadership? Would this mean the end of wars, armed conflicts and stalemates? Would there be more human rights? Would economic policy be more equitable and with greater concern for the environment and minorities? Or would there be the same obsession with profit, regardless of the human and environmental costs, and the same selfish anthropocentrism that has led us to our current impasses? Would we see more considered discussion and compromise? And, ultimately, would there be more care and empathy? These questions are posed not because we argue in favour of the establishment of a matriarchy, but because the programme aims to invite reflection on whether there is an alternative to the dominant patriarchal paradigm that is seemingly leading the world to climate meltdown, environmental degradation and war-induced destruction. At the same time, it is also a reconsideration of art history, especially in country like Greece, which for years has marginalised or rendered invisible so many women artists.