Dates: July - December 2013
Place: IFP, Institute for Provocation Beijing, www.iprovoke.org
Project developed together with artist Maja Bekan, supported by Mondriaan Fonds.
Credits image: "New Professionals of the Nation”, performance for Bodies at Work, Rundel Market, Beijing 2013.
“Bodies at Work” is a collaborative research project by Maja Bekan and Angela Serino examining and voicing what kind(s) of “work” it is that art and cultural workers do. What is their relationship to time and space, how and for whom they work, how they balance their private, social and professional life, and what are the advantages and pitfalls of such circumstances. Involving various collaborations, "Bodies at Work” enfolds itself trough small-scale performances, lectures, conversations and printed materials.
The first of such events was “I Want to Retire” (May 2013, NL), followed by a six months residency at IFP, Institute for Provocation, Beijing supported by Mondriaan Fonds. At IFP, the project consisted of two primary elements. First, “The Ultimate Flexible Work Station” by Maja Bekan initially conceived for the van Abbe Museum in Eindhoven in 2011 and then adapted for Beijing. Parallel with the workstation, the project comprised a regular reading group at IFP on the topic of art and labour and a series of public activities developed in the city – such as “New Professionals of the Nation”, an intervention by the Chinese experimental singer Fenny in the Rundel Market; “Thinking of an Art Worker: what is an Artist? what is a Curator? .. and 100 other very important questions”, a two-day workshop at CAFA, Beijing Art Academy in collaboration with the educational department of CAFA Museum; “Surviving Art”, a public discussion at Homeshop, artists’ initiative in Beijing, curated by Michael Eddy.
Bodies at Work presentation at IFP, collective reading, Bejing 2013
Bodies at Work, logo, Beijing 2013