needless [work] - Autonomie und Verweigerung

Artistic activity as the antithesis of what, in late capitalism, is the sole purpose of work: earning a living. Whilst “Kugelkopf” and “Ein bewährter Partner” engage directly with the world of work, all the other works are radical rejections of the means-end relationship; the activity is laborious, yet leads to nothing.

‘Hand Catching Lead’ reduces work to a simple gesture which, whilst bearing all the attributes of work (material, dirt, exertion), has a purpose that is not discernible from the frame, much like in modern manufacturing, where the individual often no longer knows the product on which they are currently working.

The white, life-giving milk in “Untitled (Sex)” stands in stark contrast to the toxic metal; yet here, humanity’s first activity—drinking milk—is turned into torture by the inversion of the body.

Baldessari’s predictably fruitless efforts with the unteachable and ungrateful pot plant in “Teaching a Plant the Alphabet” reveal the scarcely less absurd nature of much human labour: from EU farmers who bring in their harvest solely for subsequent destruction, through the manufacture of the most superfluous household appliances, to work that would be better left undone altogether, such as military service. Currently, they point to the society of ‘lifelong learning’ and constant retraining.

Mara Mattuschka takes the adaptation of the human being to the production process – which was driven to perfection under Fordism – to extremes by making her body an integral part of the machine in Kugelkopf. The individual seems to be torn between rationalised technology and emotional archaism. This makes her attempt to sell the finished film to IBM all the more curious; less surprising, however, is the managers’ consternated reaction.

In “One Year Performance 1980–1981”, the refusal takes on an existential dimension: a whole year, 24 hours a day, to the hourly rhythm of the time clock, with the sole result being that this is documented. The total dedication of the 168-hour week stands in contrast to the utter futility of the act.

The experience, stretched out infinitely and then compressed on film, is concentrated in “Rest Energy” into four real minutes, in which Abramović risks her life in front of a drawn sports bow.

‘A Trusted Partner’ was originally a promotional film intended to dispel reservations about computers (‘Trusted Partner’) and promote the acceleration of production processes. During the copying process, it is slowed down considerably, taking on a rhythmic pulsation reminiscent of human breathing. Both this alternation between light and non-light and the material reduced to black and white reflect the binary code in the physical-chemical realm; the digitised machine world is contrasted with an older, here magical, worldview.