http://www.statenskonstrad.se/en/konst/arbetets-monument

Public Art Agency Sweden has commissioned a new work by artist Alexandra Pirici, taking the monumental transition from industrial to post-industrial society as it’s point of departure.

As part of her working process, Pirici has interviewed industrial workers from different generations about the physical movements they are performing, and have performed, in their working life. The interviews are conducted in collaboration with the worker’s union Verkstadsklubben at the industry SKF in Gothenburg.

 The past and present movements of the workers will form the basis for a performative public monument, which will be enacted for the first time at the end of May in central Gothenburg, a city with a long and proud industrial heritage. The monument will be included in the collection of the Public Art Agency Sweden, with the possibility of re-enactment in the future.

Schedule:
Thursday 28/5: 12-14 & 16-18
Friday 29/5: 12-14 & 16-18
Saturday 30/5: 13-15 & 16-18
Sunday 31/5 kl. 13-15 & 16-18
Welcome!

Alexandra Pirici on Monument to Work:

“Monument to Work could be seen as a recurring public ritual to commemorate the physical labour that enabled modern society to evolve. It is also positioned in relation to the ongoing shift towards immaterial production: while paying an homage to demanding physical work, the Monument does not attempt to glorify and reproduce it by perfect illustration, neither to replace it with cognitive and affective labour that is just as demanding. It rather attempts to transform it, prompting us to imagine a future where the increasing automation that gradually makes not only physical industrial labour obsolete, but also starts to replace cognitive labour, could be seen as a possibility to work less for the same wages, or to make work as we know it a thing of the past entirely.”

Monument to Work is enacted by: Jonny Berg, Nilla Björkman, Karine Bourgeois, Hanna Bylund, Johanna Ehn, Lisa Gustafsson, Christian Hüls, Gustaf Jönsson, Fanny Kivimäki, Ragnhild Lennblad, Pia Nordin, Caroline Sehm, Erwin Semler, Felix Skalberg and Linda Wardal.