The End of the Fucking Work
Varvara Stepanova, Kathrin Lemcke, Natasha A. Kelly, Wayne Hodge, Harun Farocki, Anna Borgman & Candy Lenk
12 Apr–27 May 21
The end of capitalist wage labour can only become conceivable if work itself is to be examined. The social problem lies not in work as an activity in and of itself, but rather in its exploitation through wage labour. In pandemic times, long-existing inequalities become crystal-clear: the system is colossally unjust.
Art work experiences hyper-inflation as well as depreciation in value in multiple ways. Seldom is it recognised as wage labour, because it “creates joy”, “involves self-realisation”, or “can be done by anyone”. This fragile situation is one component of prevailing power relations and forms of discrimination, which are increasingly intensified in light of the blooming crises.
Work itself cannot end, because human beings constantly need to interact with their environments. But perhaps an end to organised wage labour as we know it is possible; an end to structures that are both hierarchical and oppressive. The artists of this exhibition investigate work processes, both those currently at play in the art sector, and those of an emancipated society – surveying the status quo, and hoping for utopia.
The End of the Fucking Work is the second part of the exhibition series MY WORKING WILL BE THE WORK . on self/care, labour and solidarity curated by Linnéa Meiners and Jorinde Splettstößer.
Team
CURATOR Linnéa Meiners
CO-CURATOR Jorinde Splettstößer
CURATORIAL ASSISTANCE Sofía Pfister
HEAD OF PRODUCTION Carolina Redondo
INSTALL TEAM Claudio Aguirre, Nicolas Gomez, Johann Hackspiel
GRAPHICS Dani Hasrouni, Sofía Pfister
TAILOR AND DRESSMAKER Claudio Aguirre
PROJECT ASSISTANCE Sofia Jamatte
TRANSLATIONS Sonja Hornung, Irina Upravitelev
GALLERY SUPERVISION Ferdinand Gieschke
The curators would like to thank the team of Galerie im Turm and Kunstraum Kreuzberg/Bethanien: Stéphane Bauer, Kristoffer Holmelund, Nadia Pilchowski, Serkan Sevincli, Josef Stöhr and the exhibition supervisors.
We also want to thank the A. A. Bakhrushin State Central Theatre Museum, Moscow.
With the kind support of the Senate Department for Culture and Europe: Multi-sector Funding, Exhibition Fund Municipal Galleries and Fund Exhibition fees for visual artists.
Galerie im Turm is a facility of the district office Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg.
