The Misogynist Machine: Images of Technology in the Work of Hannah Höch

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Article Critique
The author's thesis is that the work of Hannah Hoch reflects a deep ambivalence towards technology and its effects on women (Makela 106). Hoch critiques and celebrates the machine age, seeing it as a source of liberation and oppression for women (Makela 107). This ambivalence is evident in her use of photomontage, which both critiques the way women are represented in the media and use the modern technology of photography to create new, subversive images (Makela 109).
The article comprises multiple ideas the author uses to create a detailed understanding. Makela discusses how Hoch's photomontages often featured images of machinery and machine parts, which she argues represented how women's bodies were being treated as objects to be controlled and used. For example, in one of Hoch's works, a woman's head is superimposed onto a chicken's body. The author argues that it represents how women were being treated as "poultry" to be used for food or other purposes. In another work, Hoch superimposed a woman's head onto a sewing machine, representing how women's bodies were used to produce goods. Maria Makela provides several primary sources in support of her argument that the German Dada artist Hannah Hoch used images of technology in her work as a way to critique the misogynist society in which she lived.
Makela begins by discussing one of Hoch's most famous works, the photomontage "Cut with the Kitchen Knife Dada Through the Last Weimar Beer-Belly Cultural Epoch of Germany." This collage, which was created in 1919, features a woman's head superimposed onto the body of a machine, with the words "kitchen" and "machine" written across the image (Makela 111). Makela argues that this image critiques how women were seen as nothing more than domestic servants in German society. Makela also discusses another of Hoch's works, "Beauty Queen." This photomontage, created in 1922, features a woman's head superimposed onto the body of a racecar. Makela argues that this image critiques how women were objectified and treated as nothing more than objects of beauty in German society. Makela borrows the idea of the "gaze" from feminist scholar Laura Mulvey. She argues that Hoch's images are meant to disrupt the male gaze, which objectifies and controls women. By creating images showing the dark side of technology, Hoch hopes to challenge how women are treated as objects.
Makela's article comprises multi...