Feminist activism and art.

• Author: Lee, Margaret
• Position: Third annual feminist art/political conference, 'Utopia/Dystopia,' Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Theater, San Francisco, CA

San Francisco

Several hundred women and a handful of men gathered at San Francisco's Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Theater in April for Utopia/Dystopia, the third annual conference on feminist activism and art. Younger conference participants, sporting punk haircuts and pierced body parts, mixed with older feminists to share ideas about art, social consciousness, and interactive technology.

A variety of artists spoke about how they've tried to improve their communities. They included Susan Cervantes, who spearheaded a mural movement that has changed the face of San Francisco's Mission District, and Jocelyn Taylor, co-producer of Dyke TV, the ground-breaking lesbian cable television program in New York City.

Kathleen Hanna, the lead singer of the punk band Bikini Kill and one of the founders of Riot Grrrl Press, a nonprofit distribution and printing service for underground female writers, sparked the most excitement. For many of the older attendees, this was a...