Work, Work, Work: A Reader on Art and Labour
Book launch and discussion:
November 30, 2012, 8:30pm
Pro qm
Almstadtstraße 48-50, Berlin
www.sternberg-press.com
www.iaspis.se
Describing the relationship of art to work and the conditions of artistic production has long engaged many. Work is a broad concept, the meaning of which has changed radically as a result of the social and technological transformations that have taken place over the past century. What, then, is work today and what is its relation to art? What is the position of the artist if creativity has become a commodity? How can the artist’s conditions of production be described, and what role can art and architecture play in societal change?
The texts in this reader provide perspectives on the questions above emerging from a series of seminars conducted during the late autumn of 2010 at Iaspis, the Swedish Arts Grants Committee’s international program for visual art, architecture, crafts, and design in Stockholm. The seminars brought together visual artists, architects, theoreticians, curators, and writers with diverse backgrounds and experience. They were arranged into three themes: the relationship between art and work, the current conditions of production and the organization of work within the field of visual art, and the role of art and architecture in politics and society.
Contributions by Pierre Bal-Blanc, Franco “Bifo” Berardi, Ana Betancour, Jonatan Habib Engqvist, Annika Eriksson, Kirsten Forkert, Catharina Gabrielsson, Ingela Johansson, Lars Bang Larsen, Maria Lind, Sarat Maharaj, Making A Living (MAL), Michele Masucci, Helena Mattsson, Nina Power, OTCOP, Pratchaya Phinthong, Raqs Media Collective, Judith Revel, Lisa Rosendahl, Joanna Sokołowska, Hito Steyerl, Mladen Stilinović, Nina Svensson, Cecilia Widenheim
Co-published by Sternberg Press and Iaspis / the Swedish Arts Grants Committee. Edited by Cecilia Widenheim, Lisa Rosendahl, Michele Masucci, Annika Enqvist, and Jonatan Habib Engqvist. Design by Medium. 16.5 x 23 cm, 287 pages, 52 colour and 9 b/w ill., softcover.
Iaspis is the Swedish Arts Grants Committee’s international programme commissioned to support international exchange for practitioners in the areas of visual art, design, craft and architecture. Iaspis’ activities aim to enable practitioners based in Sweden to develop artistically and improve their working conditions by establishing international contacts between artists and institutions, professionals such as curators and critics and others active in the field.
