As part of her participation in the exhibition project, We owe each other everything, Arnell arranged her working quarters within the gallery as an expansion of her studio. In thinking about the folds and complications of her relationship to labor, and therefore her practice as an artist, Arnell used the museum as a rehearsal space, opening it up to her collaborators and exploring this inquiry, with a focus on working rituals and their performative character.
The text that follows was commissioned by Andrew Kachel and was printed in the program for, We owe each other everything (2014):
Mo(WE)ments of labor
"she had a queer feeling that they were being watched"
but the origin is doubtful.
work, esp. hard physical work.
normal
workers, esp. manual workers, considered collectively.
manual workers considered as a social class or political force.
1.
strive, struggle, endeavor, work, try, work hard, try hard, make every effort, do one's best, do one's utmost, do all one can, give one's all, go all out, fight, put oneself out, apply oneself, exert oneself;
bend/lean/fall over backwards, pull out all the stops
verb: queer;
3rd person present: queers;
past tense: queered;
past participle: queered;
gerund or present participle: queering
adjective: queer;
comparative adjective:
queerer;
superlative adjective: queerest
make great effort.
spoil or ruin (an agreement, event, or situation).
laborers, labor force, proletariat
More
"- and labor need to cooperate"
delivery, nativity;
More
contractions, labor pains;
"she labored to unite - "
"a project on which we had labored for many years"
work, work hard, toil, slave (away), grind away, struggle, strive, exert oneself, work one's fingers to the bone, work like a dog, work like a Trojan;
More
slog away, plug away;
moil, oblique, perverse,
Within the action installation, Mo(WE)ments of labor (2014), the following action took place during the opening of, We owe each other everything (2014). The participants in Clara López Menéndez symposium-crash course, Is It Really Working?* were invited to interact with the space through, A score for queer labor. The participants were: Vanessa Anspaugh, Malin Arnell, Amelia Bande, Gregg Bordowitz, Kajsa Dahlberg, Andrew Kachel, Alhena Katsof and Clara López Menéndez.
A score for queer labor
Three call bells are placed on the tables and floor, to be used.
The score includes two positions.
Find a spot in the room, position yourself.
Stand straight and still with eyes open.
Think of what queer labors are, or could be.
Choose one movement which is part of that labor.
Go to one of the call bells and hit it.
Find a new spot in the room, position yourself.
Stand straight and still with eyes closed.
Imagine yourself (by yourself or together with others) doing exactly that movement over and over again until you feel exhausted.
Go to one of the call bells and hit it.
Start over.
When you need a break you either leave the room or sit down somewhere in the room.
*Clara López Menéndez symposium-crash course, Is It Really Working? (2014), took place as part of the Master’s thesis exhibition, Deviance Credits, CCS Bard / Hessel Museum of Art, Annandale-on-Hudson, New York.
Mo(WE)ments of labor (2014). Action installation, which took place as part of, We owe each other everything (2014), organized by Andrew Kachel within the Master’s thesis exhibition, Deviance Credits, CCS Bard / Hessel Museum of Art, Annandale-on-Hudson, New York.