A conversation about capital, labour, the working practices of artists, and the future of work, organised by Artquest for the Block 336 / Finnish Institute in London residency ART/WORK, February 2019.
The ART/WORK residency was a 5-week artist residency and exhibition for an artist based in Finland that looks at themes of work, labour, and how these are valued and expressed in wider society, timed to coincide with the end of Finland’s Universal Basic Income trial.
Speakers
Anu Suhonen is a Helsinki-based visual artist who works mainly with video, photography and installations. She is currently artist in residence at Block 336 during the ART/WORK residency. Her project at Block 336, Process Accelerator 2.0, presents a factory that chases maximum productivity, satirically reflecting on late capitalism’s push for constant economic growth. Like a snake eating its own tail at an ever-increasing pace, Process Accelerator 2.0 explores technological advancement, mass-production, and short-lifespan goods, considering the effects this vicious circle has on the environment and its limited resources.
Alice Martin is Head of Work and Pay at the New Economics Foundation (NEF) and leads projects on the future of work and trade unions. Alice is currently working on NEF’s shorter working week campaign, and on collective bargaining/worker power. She is a regular guest on the NEF Weekly Economics Podcast and is writing a book on trade unions in the 21st century for Polity Press.
Russell Martin is director of Artquest, and an artist and writer. Recent projects include The Artists Fund, a prototype trust-based small-scale grants programme selected by artists; Spaced Out, a conference at UAL on the spatial needs and opportunities for artists in London; and Almanack, an annual online journal drawing together the art world with wider social, economic and cultural issues.
