Filed under: activism, artists, contemporary art, exhibition, ideas | Tags: activism, art, artists, contemporary art, economics, event, exhibition, ideas, overwork, publication, society, working
NGBK BERLIN
13 December 2008 – 1 February 2009
Opening: 12 December, 19 h
/unvermittelt
/unvermittelt
… for a concept of labour beyond overwork and lack of work
Participants: Absageagentur, bankleer, Bildwechsel, chto delat, Chor der Tätigen , city mine(d), Die Heilige Kirche der letzten drei Arbeitstage, G-bliss productions, Sascha Göttling, Institut für Primär-energieforschung , Kiez ->To Go, m7red , Karin Michalski / Renate Lorenz, Netzwerk Grund-einkommen, Private Emission Trade, Sabotage-agentur, unhaltbar/leere Versprechungen, UNWETTER, Malte Wilms, Zene na delu – und die Projektgruppe „/unvermittelt“ der NGBK: Danijela Cenan, Uli Ertl, Frauke Hehl, Rut Waldeyer und Nadine Wothe
About 50 activists, initiatives, artists, theorists and opinion leaders from throughout the world have been invited to redefine the concepts of work and of being active under the motto “practice, method, scope“. The project began in January 2008 with a series of lectures and workshops. Since August, a number of interventions have taken place in Berlin public space. From 13 December, the participants will be showing what they understand by a collaborative and mutually supportive space to think, explore the scope of possibilities and act, in the exhibition space at NGBK.
The exhibition presents both the processes involved – workshops, campaigns, radio and film productions, artists’ actions and political interventions in urban space, as well as the results – films, posters, songs and other acoustic works, sculptures and documentary material.
/unvermittelt will be accompanied by a publication in German. ISBN: 978-3-938515-21-1.
At the evening opening at NGBK the Chor der Tätigen will be singing pop-songs on the topic of work together with “Judiths Krise”.
/unvermittelt is a project of the New Society for Visual Arts, its patron is Berlin’s Senator for Integration, Labour and Social Issues Dr. Knake-Werner.
Catalogue ISBN: 978-3-938515-21-1
www.unvermittelt.net
Filed under: artists, contemporary art, curating, exhibition | Tags: contempoary art, other exhibitions, slow, time
Onthaasting: About Spare Time and Slower Worlds
Curated by Niels Van Tomme and Jan Van Woensel
Onthaasting is a mental diversion through the use of recreation as an “escape” from the perceived unpleasant aspects of daily life. It takes place on the outskirts of contemporary life: on mountaintops, in wide-open plains, in churches, in landscapes, in gardens … but most of all in the mind. The exhibition presents Belgian contemporary video artists within this conceptual framework.
Artists: Guillaume Bijl, Jacques Charlier, Cel Crabeels, De Brassers, Messieurs Delmotte, Gery De Smet, Harald Thys & Jos De Gruyter.
November 11 – December 21, 2008
American University Museum
Katzen Arts Center
4400 Massachusetts Ave NW
Washington, DC 20016
http://www.american.edu/cas/katzen/museum/2008nov_onthaasting.cfm
OPENING RECEPTION: Saturday November 22, 2008, 6:00 PM – 9:00 PM
LECTURES:
Saturday November 22, 2008, 4:00 PM
Onthaasting – The Exhibition as a State of Mind
Co-curator Niels Van Tomme will explain the concept of the exhibition. Through wide-ranging references, Van Tomme plans to merge the national with the personal, the theoretical with the anecdotal.
Saturday December 20, 2008 4:00 PM
Belgians on Holiday
Co-curator Jan Van Woensel will explore the peculiar behavior of Belgians during their vacation at the beach. The lecture takes the 1996 surreal cult movie ‘Camping Cosmos’ as a key example.
Exhibition and all events free and open to the public.
Filed under: artists, contemporary art, curating, exhibition, installation, performance, photos | Tags: contemporary art, exhibition, installation, new media, performance, photos
I think everyone has waited long enough for installation photos from Tobaron Waxman’s performance, Block of Ice +1/60, a new media performance-based installation that took place at Peacock Visual Arts as part of No Time to Lose. Thanks for your patience =-).
The press release and images follow…
BLOCK OF ICE + 1/60
LIVE ART PERFORMANCE AND MULTIMEDIA INSTALLATION BY TOBARON WAXMAN
PEACOCK VISUAL ARTS
22-26 July
Daily 9.30am – 5.30pm
Admission free
Can you work even while you are asleep? Artist Tobaron Waxman proves with Block of Ice + 1/60, that he can. His live art performance connecting labour and water ecology is the final part of ‘No Time to Lose’, an exhibition exploring the theme of ‘overwork’.
Waxman’s brain functions like that of a shift worker, i.e. he sleeps during the day and works during the night. The impressive installation Block of Ice + 1/60 involves the artist sleeping in a large hammock suspended from the gallery ceiling, next to a heavy 200 pounds block of ice hanging from the ceiling as well…
While the artist sleeps, biofeedback from his brainwaves are monitored in a process allowing him to pull images from the internet. The images are subsequently projected onto a block of ice as it melts over the course of the week.
Passing through a filtration system the ice melts into bottles while, at the same time, screen captures of the projection are printed onto labels. Upon waking at night, the artist begins his ‘working day’ by applying the labels to each bottle thus generating an artist’s multiple. The bottles are a unique edition for sale, with proceeds going to not-for-profits concerned with labour and hydrology.
Block of Ice +1/60 reveals the boundaries between social and personal experiences of ‘schedule’ and the notion of 9 to 5 as the minimum “respectable” work hours. It’s an image juxtaposing the ecology of work opposite the fragile balance of the water table.
Remember, larger versions of these images are available at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/notimetolose/
Filed under: artists, contemporary art, exhibition, installation, media coverage, performance, photos, updates | Tags: artists, exhibition, media coverage
This great review was published in The Times on Tuesday, July 22, 2008.
Visit the link above to view this article online; the text is re-posted below in case the article is only available temporarily.
A hammock, but not enough me-time for artist
Mike Wade, The Times, July 22, 2008
A man lies sleeping in a hammock alongside a vast block of ice, whose meltwater is slowly draining into empty whisky bottles. By night, he awakes and spends all his time making labels for the bottles, using images which have been generated on a computer by signals from his brain.
For enthusiasts, Tobaron Waxman’s creation at the Peacock Visual Arts gallery in Aberdeen is an eloquent protest against the dominance of work in our lives, as it encroaches remorsely into our “me-time”. For those of a more sceptical bent, it is just another example of what happens when you let a conceptual artist off the leash.
Mr Waxman, an “inter-disciplinary time-based artist” from Toronto in Canada, appeared modest about his creation, refusing to pose in his hammock for photographers who had arrived to record his latest work. However, no one could dispute that he has applied the full force of his mind to Block of Ice + 1/60.
Seeking to demonstrate how the tyranny of labour intrudes into every second of our lives, over the next four days Mr Waxman will attach electrodes to his head before he drifts off to sleep. These will measure his alpha wave activity – electromagnetic oscillations inside his head – while he is unconscious, creating a form of biofeedback.
The data in turn will be transformed by specialised software package and will be used to power a pre-set internet search for pictures of labouring people on a computer located near by. Finally, the images that are collected will be projected on to the 80cm³ ice block, creating a “dynamically changing collage animated by my brainwaves,” said the artist.
Paradoxically, although visitors to the gallery will only see Mr Waxman asleep, he said his work sends a message of support for workers in Aberdeen and the world over.
“This is very much a gesture in empathy with the exploited, whether the labourer is an office worker, or someone sifting through garbage in a landfill, it is meant to remind us here about the privilege which we enjoy – and to connect us with workers across the world as part of a global ecology of labour,” he said.
Over the four days of the show, the block of ice is expected to melt away. During that time its meltwater will
be filtered, and drained into empty whisky bottles, donated by the Glenfiddich distillery. Mr Waxman’s own waking activities begin after dark, when he will make labels from the image of labour, to stick on the bottles, forming an edition of 500 of “unique sculptural pieces” for sale. All proceeds will be sent to a drinking water charity which operates in the Middle East.
Mr Waxman, who is in his thirties, studied at the Art Instiute of Chicago and produced an early version of his latest work ten years ago. That first installation had been a response to the disabling impact of a sleeping disorder, he revealed. Suffering from extreme exhaustion, inflammation of the joints and unable to walk without the support of sticks, the artist found that the problems of disability were not recognised by any aspect of society.
“In trying to describe how I was feeling I said I felt like a block of ice, to help people outside of my body understand that feeling of stasis of being frozen in place and not being able to produce, in the way that people are expected to be productive,” he said.
Mr Waxman added that though he was now physically fit, the experience had become “a palette for my artmaking.”
Block of Ice + 1/60 is at the Peacock Visual Arts, 21 Castle Street, Aberdeen, until Saturday. Admission free.
Filed under: artists, contemporary art, exhibition, installation, media coverage, performance, planning, publication, updates | Tags: exhibition, media coverage, overwork, publication, update
It’s ironic, to say the least, that I’d find myself facing the same ol’ overwork “traps” so shortly after presenting an exhibition about work/life balance. Old habits die hard and my habit of taking on too much, and not finding sufficient balance between the things I have to do, the things I need to do, and the things I really want to do, is still firmly in place. That being said, I don’t want to give the impression that it’s been all work and no play… I have indeed managed to find time to spend traveling and to gather with amazing friends. Still, balance is a tough thing to achieve and, as much as multi-tasking promises efficiency, the truth is that we can only really do one thing at a time, and we can only really be in one place at a time.
This might explain why I haven’t had much time to work on this blog. I’d still really like to comment on the last phase of the exhibition, Tobaron Waxman’s new media installation and performance, “Block of Ice +1/60”, and I will definitely do that as soon as possible. In short, I am delighted to report that his project was very well received. In a few minutes, I’ll repost the article that appeared in The Times and, in a few days, I hope to share some of the documentation that was collected during the performance.
Although No Time to Lose at PVA is now in the past, related activity is still underway. I am still chatting with other possible venues, and I am working with PVA to produce a follow-up publication. These are all very exciting things for us, and you can be sure I’ll keep you posted on these and other developments!!
All the best,
Milena
Filed under: artists, contemporary art, ideas | Tags: contemporary art, image, lifestyle, overwork
Leslie Supnet is a Winnipeg-based artist who works in a variety of media, including drawing and animation.
A few days ago, I noticed a tiny version of the drawing below posted on another website as an avatar. I asked if it related to circuit bending, which I know is another one of Leslie’s creative interests.
Much more interestingly, this piece is called “Working Overtime” and, through conversation, I learned that it was something Leslie penned while developing an image to accompany an article about child labour in Québec. Reflecting on what could be the worst possible thing to work on while working overtime, it occurred to her that fixing a punch clock in order to punch out of work, would definitely count. Not only is this character’s overtime effort not being recorded, but he must also fix the clock quickly enough to go home, thereby minimizing the amount of time he is being exploited. That’s all kinds of undesirable pressure!
Leslie informed me that she wanted to make a statement about time and work, and in addition, how time is critical to understanding and coming to terms with the nature of work.
To view more of Leslie Supnet’s thought provoking work, visit: http://www.sundaestories.com/
Leslie Supnet, Working Overtime, Ink on paper, 2008.
Filed under: artists, contemporary art, exhibition, ideas, photos | Tags: art, exhibition, society, work
Be a Happy Worker: Work-to-Rule!
g-mk | galerija miroslav kraljevic
Subiceva 29, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia
Phone: +38514592696 / Fax: +38514592183
Contact: info@g-mk.hr / www.g-mk.hr
June 26 – July 20, 2008
Zbynek Baladran | Tanja Dabo | REINIGUNGSGESELLSCHAFT & Miklos Erhardt | Igor Grubic | Sanja Ivekovic | Helmut & Johanna Kandl | Kristina Leko | Pavel Mrkus | Societe Realiste
Curators: Ivana Bago & Antonia Majaca / Non-Alligned CF
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Wikipedia describes work-to-rule as an industrial action in which employees do no more than the minimum required by the rules of a workplace. While still following safety and other regulations, working-to-rule is a deliberate slowdown in the production process as a form of protest. This procedure, also known as ‘white strike’, simply slows down production: an action less disruptive than a strike and less susceptible to disciplinary action as the elementary rules are being obeyed.
Along with alluding to a need for a general slowdown and the question of the existence of ’surplus labour’, the exhibition title additionally derives from a possible misreading of the phrase. Today, in the matrix of advanced neo-liberal capitalism, the title could be read in the instructive mode as ‘work to dominate’ or ‘work to succeed’, referring to the models of subjectivity and flexibility characteristic of late capitalism.
The exhibition Be a Happy Worker: Work-to-Rule! considers different perspectives and concepts of work and labour, the ’slowing down’ of work, the quality of work and life in past and present working conditions, the global division of labour and creative reflections on industrial and postindustrial labour. On the other hand, the exhibition touches upon the nostalgia for a time of belief in industrial modernization, in the light of the destinies of workers after the transformations and dissolution of the factories in East Europe. Furthermore, the exhibition presents works of artists from the wider region that deal with political and social aspects of the recent transformations in the time of wild capitalism in Eastern Europe and the glorification of the West as a heaven of entrepreneurial possibilities. The continually relevant issues of gender division of labour, the ‘invisibilty’ of women’s labour and the ever more complex relation betwee n labour and leisure are also addressed. Mapping different perspectives, artistic strategies and the heterogeneous ways they have dealt with this complex subject from the perspective of ‘New Europe’, Be a Happy Worker: Work-To-Rule! reflects the history of work, the aspects of the transformation of past working conditions and a wide range of issues regarding the immaterial labour that concerns us all today.
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The exhibition ‘Be a Happy Worker: Work-to-Rule’ is part of the collaborative project Land of Human Rights by < rotor > association for contemporary art/ Graz, University of J.E. Purkyne/ Usti nad Labem, riesa efau | Motorenhalle/ Dresden, Trafo Gallery/ Budapest, Galerija Skuc/ Ljubljana, g – mk | galerija miroslav kraljevic/ Zagreb
Partner LOHR exhibition:
Land of Human Rights: What do you do for a living?
27 June-16 August + 1 September-13 September 2008
Location: < rotor > association for contemporary art, Graz (AT)
Artists: Jiri Cernicky, Katharina Gruzei, Helmut & Johanna Kandl, Eleonore de Montesquiou, Marija Mojca Pungercar, REINIGUNGSGESELLSCHAFT, Josef Schutzenhőfer, Artur Zmijewski
Curators: Anton Lederer & Margarethe Makovec
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
LAND OF HUMAN RIGHTS (www.landofhumanrights.eu)
With the support of the Culture Programme of the European Union
The Program of Galerija Miroslav Kraljevic is supported by: City of Zagreb – City Office for Education, Culture and Sport, Ministry of Culture – Croatia, INA Ltd.
Filed under: artists, contemporary art, exhibition, media coverage | Tags: artists, media coverage
Reporter on all that’s hip n’ happening, Sue Carter Flinn, has once again mentioned a NTTL-related project in her very cool column, “The Dope Show” featured in Halifax’s “The Coast”.
Check it out!
The Dope Show: Arts news by Sue Carter Flinn
Project Skive, July 04, 2008
Does this sound like you? Yeah, you!
“Are you one of the many people spending too much time at work? Eating lunch at your desk? Addicted to your Blackberry and not able to switch it off, even on holiday? Peacock Visual Arts‘ new exhibition No Time to Lose is about all of this, and more.”
This link was sent to me by Winnipeg curator extraordinaire, Milena Placentile, from her exhibition, No Time To Lose, at Peacock Visual Arts in Aberdeen. Abby Schoneboom’s Project Skive looks at the creative time-wasting efforts of British white-collared workers (Skiving is slang for all the fucking around you do at work). Read anonymous reports and add your own personal favourite skives on the website. As I reported a couple of weeks ago, Halifax artist Cathy Busby is also in the show.
Filed under: artists, exhibition, ideas, interactive, photos, publication | Tags: artists, panel, photos
The next day, from 12:30 – 1:30 p.m. , we held an informal lunch time discussion to not only discuss the motivation of the exhibition and each featured artwork, but to discuss the wider phenomenon of overwork… what causes it and why society can’t seem to say “no”.
As shown in the photos below, the conversation was video recorded. Adam and Sean will be editing it down to a something akin to an exhibition “trailer”. At a later date, we’ll excerpt from it for our forthcoming publication.
Let’s keep the conversation going here!! If you have questions or ideas, please share them with us!
