I Can’t I Have to Work…

The two workshops titled Klasse Bewusstsein! are aiming to initiate a dialogue among the art workers in Leipzig who are working in self-organized contexts, in order to start a discussion about precarious working conditions, unpaid project work, economic situation and incomes, public funding, collaboration, solidarity, labour struggles. How to struggle against precarious conditions—especially in self-organized contexts where labour struggles are more difficult to localize? How would it be possible to effect changes in that situation to which we are often subjected by choice and which is perhaps also constantly reproduced by ourselves? Which tactics and models of organizing already exist? How can they be enacted and expanded collectively and publicly?

The workshops are organized in collaboration with the group AG Arbeit and constitute a common part of two events series:

ABSAHNEN—eine Qualifizierungsmaßnahme der AG Arbeit and I Can’t I Have to Work…

The two workshops titled Klasse Bewusstsein! are aiming to initiate a dialogue among the art workers in Leipzig who are working in self-organized contexts, in order to start a discussion about precarious working conditions, unpaid project work, economic situation and incomes, public funding, collaboration, solidarity, labour struggles. How to struggle against precarious conditions—especially in self-organized contexts where labour struggles are more difficult to localize? How would it be possible to effect changes in that situation to which we are often subjected by choice and which is perhaps also constantly reproduced by ourselves? Which tactics and models of organizing already exist? How can they be enacted and expanded collectively and publicly?

The workshops are organized in collaboration with the group AG Arbeit and constitute a common part of two events series:

ABSAHNEN—eine Qualifizierungsmaßnahme der AG Arbeit and I Can’t I Have to Work…

Speakers: Ellen Blumenstein, Sebastian Löwe

Haben und Brauchen (To Have and to Need) is an activist group in Berlin. Founded in 2011, the immediate cause for the mobilization was the planned exhibition Leistungsschau junger Kunst aus Berlin (Competitive Exhibition of Young Art from Berlin) which sparked a critical reaction, followed by a broader debate on cultural policies and the examination of the conditions for the production and presentation of contemporary art in Berlin. Haben and Brauchen addresses the social and economic conditions of artistic and cultural work, as well as processes of urban development and gentrification. Formed in response to these issues, Haben und Brauchen seek to be advocates in the field of art as well as in art’s neighboring occupational fields with a platform for discussion and action.

Speakers: Tanja von Dahlern, Erik Krikortz

Reko is an artist initiative which has been conducting surveys in the Swedish art field since 2009, researching the working conditions in public art museums and galleries. Reko started its activities after the MU agreement came into force in Sweden. MU agreement is a legal regulation which obligates state-funded art institutions to pay fees for artists who are participating in exhibition projects. The annual Reko report makes economic conditions in the art field visible.

Precarious Workers Brigade is a London-based group of precarious workers in culture and education. Their collective practice is engaged with militant research in the field of culture, combined with visual production and performative practices such as interventions in public space and cultural institutions. The Precarious Workers Brigade is developing creative methods, tactics, strategies, formats and tools that are easily shared and applied.