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21/3/2012

At Your Service - Art and Labour

Technisches Museum, Wien

An exhibition of Technisches Museum Wien and ERSTE Foundation

Curators: Silvia Eiblmayr (curator and member of the art advisory council of “Kontakt. The Art Collection of Erste Group and ERSTE Foundation “) and Christiane Erharter (curator at Programme Culture, ERSTE Foundation)

Technisches Museum Wien and ERSTE Foundation are exploring new ground, engaging technology and art in dialogue. For the exhibition entitled AT YOUR SERVICE – ART AND LABOUR, artists Pavel Braila, Anna Jermolaewa, Daniel Knorr and Ulrike Lienbacher have been invited to produce new art works on the theme of labour, presenting new and unexpected perspectives on the development of steel production, energy extraction, the railways and everyday life. Videos by Harun Farocki, Adrian Paci and Anne Tallentire complement the spectrum. Visitors will have the opportunity to pursue those perspectives in a communication game and discuss the issues raised by the artists and the exhibition with other visitors: How is labour changing? How do work and unemployment affect the way we perceive ourselves?

Together with the AT WORK exhibition, AT YOUR SERVICE – ART AND LABOUR represents this year’s focus by the Technisches Museum Wien on the complex issue of work and labour. For ERSTE Foundation, this is the second art project after “Gender Check. Femininity and Masculinity in the Art of Eastern Europe” (2010, MUMOK), which was realised with a major Viennese cultural institution.

Context
How is labour changing? When is it a privilege, and when is it a burden? What does it mean when workflows are automated? Is our knowledge-based society and service economy the future of our working life? What does it mean to be flexible and mobile? How do work and unemployment affect the way we perceive ourselves? Work affects everyone and opinions about it are many and diverse. Paid labour is largely considered a social good, providing the opportunity for social recognition, and thereby serves as an important aspect in personal identity. Due to the social relevance of the theme of work, the Technisches Museum Wien has established a corresponding focus for the years 2011–2015. Two exhibitions pursue the question of the impacts associated with working and mechanisation processes. The historical-cultural exhibition AT WORK has been open since October 2011. In order to expand the diversity of approaches and impulses, the exhibition AT YOUR SERVICE – ART AND LABOUR presents a series of artistic positions.

Impact
AT YOUR SERVICE – ART AND LABOUR sets technology in a dialogue with art. For a museum that rests on a scientific basis, providing room for art is seen as an option for bringing in unfamiliar, outside perspectives, and thereby reactivating the discussions about opportunities and risks of contemporary forms of labour. Rather than being placed in a special exhibition space, art is positioned as an intervention in the Museum's permanent presentations on the development of steel production, energy extraction, the railways and everyday life. Visitors are confronted with unexpected perspectives. They will have the opportunity to pursue those perspectives in a communication game and discuss the issues raised by the artists and the exhibition with other visitors. At the start of the exhibition, the film "Making of" tells about the work on the exhibition and the production of the artworks. Red chairs with covers made ​​from recycled clothing and floor stickers lead the way to the various exhibition areas and link the artistic positions to each other. They are core elements of the guidance system designed by Walking Chair Design Studio. An accompanying digital game invites visitors to solve various tasks to the artworks.

Facts
The show involves 7 artists from 7 different countries. Working as an artist requires mobility. All of them left their hometown to work abroad. Pavel Braila from Moldova lives not only in Chisinau but also in Berlin which is home for the Romanian artist Daniel Knorr as well as for Haroun Farocki who was born in the Czech Republic. Anna Jermolaewa came from Russia to Vienna and Austrian Ulrike Lienbacher from the village Oberndorf. The Albanian artist Adrian Paci lives and works now in Milan, Italy, and Anne Tallentire moved from Northern Irland to London. The exhibition is a cooperation between Technisches Museum Wien and ERSTE Foundation. The Foundation appointed two curators: Silvia Eiblmayr, member of the art advisory board of Kontakt. The art collection of Erste Group and ERSTE Foundation, and Christiane Erharter, curator of Programme Culture. Elisabeth Limbeck-Lilienau, Christine Lixl, and Roswitha Muttenthaler from the Technisches Museum Wien were responsible for project management and scientific aspects. Together with the AT WORK exhibition, AT YOUR SERVICE - ART AND LABOUR represents this year’s focus by the Technisches Museum Wien on this complex issue.

Press Contact:
Barbara Hafok, PR Manager Technisches Museum Wien, +43-1-89998-1200, barbara.hafok@tmw.at
Maribel Königer, ERSTE Foundation Communications, +43-50-100-15453, maribel.koeniger@erstestiftung.org

Opening: 22 March 2012, 6.30 pm
For the opening Pavel Braila arranged a performance with 20 people typing simultaneously on typewriting machines.

Technisches Museum Wien
Mariahilfer Straße 212, 1140 Wien
Monday - Friday: 09:00 - 18:00, Saturday, Sunday and holiday: 10:00 - 18:00

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