Traumformat #1 – PerformanceGarten (2018)

Watch us work it

Today, work has become a central benchmark of life. Few things occupy us more than the question of why we work, for whom and under what conditions. Our working conditions are increasingly characterized by flexibilization, personal responsibility and a real compulsion to self-realization and self-marketing. Just doing the bare minimum, getting the job done, has not been enough for a long time. For the world of work seems to present itself almost as an end in itself, without cause, without reason and without goal – travailler pour le travail. It is not only a matter of working successfully and efficiently, but also of presenting success and efficiency as personal assets: It’s the performance that has to be right.

Artists also perform their work. And the way they do this seems prototypical of how work and private life are increasingly merging: artistic work is a passion and knows no end of the day. The artist is independent and at the same time dependent on the market. It must be highly flexible and mobile without losing its profile. What happens now when artists work on labor? And what happens when they do this performatively, live and with their bodies?

Impressions