REWRITING LABOUR HISTORY
8 hour long video of the artist working, a wall text
and a rewritten example of The Wealth of Nations (1776) by Adam Smith
At WORK WORK WORK – A Duo exhibition with Lise Skou and Suada Demirovic
At [meter] exhibition space
Curated by Louise Lassen Iversen and Rie Hovmann Rasmussen / [meter]
Exhibition: 6th of October 2018 – 15th of December
Open for everyone
Place: [meter] – Henrik Rungs Gade 25 – 2200 Copenhagen N – Denmark
Photo: Kristian Touborg
For the exhibition I presented the installation Rewriting Labour History that comprises a wall text; an 8 hour long video recorded in one-take of the artist working on rewriting Wealth of a Nations by Adam Smith from 1776; a piedestal with the rewritten version of the book Wealth of a Nations. My focus is on the lacking consideration of how unpaid work ensure wealth.
work work work is not a static exhibition. It develops throughout the exhibition period as an organism that grows and evolves over time. The exhibition program focuses on the nature of precarity, on collective working methods and organisation, the value of work and the lack thereof.
work work work is a exhibition that is self-reflective and takes a look at artists and curators’ own circumstances as cultural producers. The art industry is known to be infected by expectations of free labor and a general lack of money. Are these conditions we can change and if so, how?
As cultural producers we are more often than not a part of the new and fast growing social class called the precariat. A class defined by short term employment without protection and with fewer rights both economically, socially and politically. It is a social class that gathers people from across the traditional class system such as immigrants, unskilled workers and highly educated people, freelancers and project employed workers.
The exhibition is supported by: The Danish Arts Foundation and The City of Copenhagen
Program
August 24 / Opening of work work work with works by Mia Isabel Edelgart, Deirdre Johanna Humphrys, Thea von der Maase, Ninna M. Poulsen, Joen Vedel, Thomas Bo Østergaard, Tine Tvergaard & Rasmus Brink Pedersen.
October 3 / Workshop by Flexwerker.
October 6 / Opening of the second phase of the exhibition with works by Lise Skou and Suada Demirovic.
October 25 / Quiz: Why work our asses off? Artist Ulla Hvejsel invites us to quiz on the stupidity that we live by.
October 26 / Centre for Precarious Lives reads Das Kapital. Together we will read parts of Das Kapital, the foundational text within economics by Karl Marx. Each time a new guest reader is invited to select a chapter and a focus for the reading group.
November 29 / Film screening of Family Album 1952-1990 and talk with Suada Demirovic in conversation with journalist and researcher, Nina Trige Andersen
December 6 & 8 / Centre for Precarious Lives reads Das Kapital.
December 8 / Seminar on precarious work. We will host a seminar in which artists, theorists and interest organisations discuss precarious work. The day ends with a communal dinner and you are all invited.
December 15 / Ulla Hvejsel bring her quiz: Why work our asses off? to Blågårdens Bibliotek.
