24/7. Work between meaning and imbalance

Press release

30.04.2024

Image Credits

Duration

01.05.2024 - 19.01.2025

Opening

30.04.2024 7pm

Press event

30.04.2024 11:30am - 12:30pm

Place of the press event

Kunsthaus Graz, Space02

Curators

Katia Huemer

Co-curators

Martin Grabner

Show all

Yet despite the apparent freedom from rigid structures and time cards, many employees continue to struggle for fair conditions. Invisible work such as unpaid housework or care work, frequently carried out by women, is also a social problem at present and shows the need to address inequalities and exploitation. The struggle for higher wages now faces such terms as New Work, 4-day week and work-life balance. Are these just hollow phrases or realistic demands in a time of maximum stress?

Work is not just to be considered from the economic viewpoint, however; it can and should be a source of meaning and fulfilment, too. In modern-day consumerist society, in which people are focused on material possessions, work has turned into a mere means to an end, to enable consumption; yet a society in which work is no longer the central element in life could allow people more time for personal development, cultural activities and creative expression.

In a not-too-distant future, such technologies as AI and automation will continue to change the world of work and bring with them new challenges. These will once again necessitate both social and political discourse.

The exhibition examines the often precarious aspects of artistic and cultural work, posing questions about the blurring of boundaries between letting oneself be exploited and self-realisation. One part of the exhibition space is available for new productions and performative art projects, which will allow the exhibition to grow as it runs.

Parallel to the exhibition at the Kunsthaus Graz, the History Museum, in an exhibition titled It’s All Work, draws on historic press photographs from the Foto Blaschka agency to tell of the imbalance in the world of work and the massive inequalities between the sexes, some of which still existing today. A new artistic production based on the Blaschka Photo Archive will be on show in both exhibitions.

Exhibition artists:

Maja Bajević, Julien Berthier, Louisa Clement, Manuel Correa & Marina Otero Verzier, Jeremy Deller, Antje Ehmann & Harun Farocki & Eva Stotz, Aldo Giannotti, Liam Gillick, Lisa Großkopf, Andreas Gursky, Michael Hieslmair & Michael Zinganel & Theresa Hattinger, Tehching Hsieh, Johanna Kandl, Peter Kogler, KURS (Miloš Miletić, Mirjana Radovanović), Luiza Margan, Pia Mayrwöger, Sam Meech, Michail Michailov, Elisa Giardina Papa, Nika Radić, Martha Rosler, Sebastian Schmieg & Silvio Lorusso, Christoph Schwarz, Selma Selman, Santiago Sierra, Lia Sudermann & Simon Nagy, Oliver Walker

The exhibition "24/7" is a cooperation with "Alles Arbeit" at the Museum für Geschichte.

Images

Nojus Drąsutis, The Pool Cleaners, Vilnius 2017

from: Antje Ehmann, Harun Farocki, Eine Einstellung zur Arbeit / Labour in a Single Shot, 2011-videostill

Santiago Sierra, Repetition of the writing of a phrase, 2022, installation view ACVIC Barcelona, 2022

Andreas Gursky, Amazon, 2016

Louisa Clement, Representative, 2021

Courtesy: Louisa Clement & Cassina Projects

Johanna Kandl, Carry On, 2023

Courtesy Helmut and Johanna Kandl © Johanna Kandl

Selma Selman, AEG Vampyr 1400, 2017

Courtesy Selma Selman & acb gallery, photo: Tibor Varga Somogyi

Sam Meech, Punchcard Economy: 8 Hours Labour, 2024

Luiza Margan, Cache, 2023/24

Tehching Hsieh, One Year Performance, 1980–1981

Photo: Michael Shen © Tehching Hsieh

Martha Rosler, Semiotics of the Kitchen, 1975 ( film still)

Martha Rosler, Semiotics of the Kitchen, 1975 (film still)

Theresa Hattinger & Michael Hieslmair & Michael Zinganel, Windhosen: Richtungswechsel, Project Cargo Vienna, 2023

Photo: Christopher Mavric © Tracing Spaces (Hattinger/Hieslmair/Zinganel) & Bildrecht, Vienna 2024

Peter Kogler, untitled, 1992, documenta IX, museum Fridericanum Kassel, 1992

Photo: Dirk Pauwels © Peter Kogler

Nika Radić, Door - Gallery Cleaning, 2011, Installation view/ film still

Liam Gillick, The hopes and dreams of the workers as they wandered home from the bar, 2005/2024, installation view Pinacoteca Agnelli, Turin, 2022

Courtesy MEYER*KAINER, photo: Andrea Guermani © Bildrecht, Vienna 2024

Aldo Giannotti, Museum Encounters (On Work), 2024, drawing

Lia Sudermann & Simon Nagy, Kein Wunder (No wonder), 2024 (video still)

Elisa Giardina Papa, Labor of Sleep, Have you been able to change your habits??, 2017 (video still)

Courtesy Galerie Tanja Wagner © Elisa Giardina Papa

Pia Mayrwöger, Mischmaschine (Mixing machine), 2021/2024

KURS (Mirjana Radovanović, Miloš Miletić) We have always received something in exchange that we lived*. On laziness, 2024 (sketch)

Oliver Walker, One Euro, 2015 (video still)

Lisa Großkopf, She Works Hard for the Money, 2023, Installation view, Klagenfurt, 2023

Julien Berthier, L’horloge d’une vie de travail 2, 2008

Silvio Lorusso, Shouldn't you be working?, 2016/2024

Jeremy Deller, Hello, today you have day off (wording of text message sent to a worker on a zero hours contract informing him his labour would not be required that day), 2013