Men now allowed to attend exhibition of women artists

Edinburgh - After being excluded for a month, men are now allowed to attend an exhibition of women only artists at an art gallery in Edinburgh.

An exhibition of female artists has been on show as part of the Edinburgh Festival. So far, perhaps nothing unusual as exhibitions are frequently themed around a particular artist or art movement, and exhibitions of art by women only artists are occasionally staged. What was unusual about the exhibition titled ' Only Women' was that, for the first month, men were not allowed to attend, and those that tried to do so were turned away. The exhibition was curated by Sarah Wilson, who justified the gender bias to the event by telling the BBC "I'm a conceptual artist and it's a concept". Wilson went on to say: "It's kind of an experiment - it's a two-month exhibition and the first month has been solely for women - men are not allowed in. I don't have a police badge that means I can throw them out on the street but I wanted to create a space where women can work together with other women." The exhibition is a mix of line drawings, traditional paintings, video installations and conceptual pieces. It is held at Church Gallery, Hope Park Terrace and, from this week, both women and men can attend. According to The Scotsman, the women only policy may have backfired slightly as the publicity for the event was somewhat less than expected given that the majority of art critics are men, and they were not permitted to attend the opening night, from which events most reviews are produced. The Edinburgh Festival is a collective term for many arts and cultural festivals that take place in Edinburgh, Scotland each summer, mostly in August.