Exposing Work (Part 1)
A selection of video "pamphlets" from the 1970s and 1980s focusing on the theme of work (the beginnings of trade union organization, self-management initiatives, workers' speeches, etc.).
A program curated by Karine Savard, artist and researcher from Montreal, as part of Vidéographe's research and curatorial residency. It accompanies the presentation of her installation Afficher le travail at the Centre Diagonale, in Montreal, from April 15 to June 5, 2021.
List of works in program
Karine Savard appropriates the presentation mechanisms of publicity in order to produce urban interventions that address current issues related to the transformation of work. She is particularly interested in questions related to the divide between manual and intellectual work, the concept of the division of labor and its recognition within the capitalist system and the intervention of aesthetic judgments. Besides her furtive interventions in the past years, her work was presented at the Leonard & Bina Ellen Gallery (Montreal) in 2016.
As part of a research and curating residency, Karine Savard designed a series of posters based on video works selected from the collection of the artist-run center Vidéographe. These video "pamphlets" from the 1970s and 1980s focus on the theme of work (the beginnings of trade union organization, self-management initiatives, workers' speeches, etc.). The posters produced, diverted by their anachronism of their usual promotional function, explore how these videos resonate with new contemporary ways of working, for example self-employment or the digital economy.
See also: the essay Exposing Work
The installation Afficher le travail is presented at Centre Diagonale in Montréal (curators: Chloé Grondeau and Anne-Marie St-Jean Aubre) from 15 April to 5 June 2021 (artdiagonale.org) and at the Musée d’art de Joliette (curators: Anne-Marie St-Jean Aubre and Maud Jacquin) from 2 October 2021 to 9 January 2022.
This project was realised with the support of the Canada Council for the Arts, Vidéographe and Centre Sagamie.
