ways of discipline
in the gap between material & immaterial work
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ways of discipline |
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in the gap between material & immaterial work |
"Ways of Discipline" - in the gap between material & immaterial work / a foto/video installation tends to incend a process of reflection regarding value and future of work, as a process envolving the body on all levels of existence.
"Ways of discipline" - in the gap between material
& immaterial work" can be seen as anthropologic and fotografic Work
Trip to Northern India on the purpose of investigating the gap between material
and immaterial work using photography /video as an instrument to document different
attitudes in and at work.
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The Gap that has to be bridged by "Ways of Discipline" is the contextual
space, the cultural space and the space of significance in which labour/ work
has to be done, labour that is imminent to society and at the same time immaterial
as far as ist is not recognized not even talking about beeing paid as such.
Where material work ends and immaterial work starts is mostly not so evident, knowing that one component of immaterial work still beeing neglected that is dedicated to a so to say "spiritual development" or ethic conscience, as if working to develop ethic conscience would not have significant value for the whole of society.
Ways of Discipline is a Foto/Video/Text Installation in India 2009 to document positions/attitudes toward work, and the guide back tour as Installation and wandering exposition in 2010.
To document positions/attitudes towards work means to jump between the labourer on the field and the Yoga practicioner in town, between the teleworking butler and the trader on the street, to name some examples. Therefor we will have to look into different kind of work rooms be it on the street or be it the housewife`s beauty parlor in her own flat. And as far as we would like to see whether the relation someone demonstrates while doing his or her job does have some beneficial effect, we even want to fix a porträt after finishing the job, curious whether content/discontent will be mirrored on the workers` face.
GapStarPro starts from the hypothesis that each culture manifests culture specific attitudes or role models regarding work, but due to our observations these culture specific differences are being washed out respectively in a paradigmatic and even inevitable change of values, as if the ongoing economic crisis has inserted some sobering effect, giving us notice on a global level, that the world would need a new and global attitude with respect to the category "human labour".
We do use the Term "Performance" on purpose, well knowing that it derives originally from art but has nowadays become a standard to describe power/expressivity and financial significance of (multi) national companies, just to show how far that kind of "uncultural behaviouristic mechanisms" reach already up and down to each and any human expression of doing and being. Not only labour/work but even Art won`t find perception unless under the criteria of market instead of what should define worth and purpose of artistic expression.
It is now more than understood that rapture capitalism aiming just to maximize the profits while minimizing risks admitting collateral damage of any kind without a second thought, in other words to privatize the profits by capitalizing the risks, is by no means a "right"attitude that fits a planetarian community on the verge of new aera facing difficult multilevel tasks !
Not talking about the fact that these overdoing attitude surpasses the abilities of mankind as well as it is exploiting the resources of the whole planet . Equally neglected, due to our observations, is the question of pause, otium, the space and time necessary to consolidate what has been manufactured, learned or done, in order to redistribute the surflu to all parts of society, reconsidering also the responsability o this generation for the next generation.
GapStarPro is dealing with the phenomenology of Gap and Events and objects, that tend to disappear in those kind of gaps. Thats why we are interested in discovering the gap between material & immaterial work, the work been done by Artists many times will be founded more in the immaterial than the material world and there fore be overlooked, ignored or done away by society, wheras the artist more and more being kept and held back in the the subareas and entrance halls of a postindustrial HiTecassociations.
To Gap Star Pro photography is a mean of art on its own as well as an instrument to communicate Art & content. We have been using it as such in public space before: 2007 "Achtungzwischenraum/mind the gap" was our contribution to the Lower Austrian Country Exhibition, where we hung huge prints on transparent nets on firewalls along the 1. Strasse of Kematen/NÖ, which together with the 20 videoprtraits, were meant to picture or bridge the cutlural gap between Kematen and New York City.
Value & future of work is a topic worth while of reflection, and in our mental and physical attitude as artists we can only use artistic manners, as far as we consider ourselves artists we do know that any result will come by organic process, as well as any type of work needs time and space to be elaborated or filed out.(Fotografie/Installation/Video/Performance).
We hope You get the point at where we aim to: Ways of discipline is far more than mere artistic expression of self, we are talking therein about a so called categoric human condition of existence that defines and limitates us in each and every aspect of Being - and the way society reflects upon it or deals with it - the future shall show if this will be in a respectful fair and equal way or if we as a species admit beeing failure.
GapStarPro
R. Macher/S. Okotie