in collaboration with Ersan Ugar, Anwar Sadat, Elijah Aller, Mina Sezgin and Charlie Whittuck.
Found detritus from the National Museum of Architecture, poplar timber table, glass vitrines, audio work 29.32 minutes looped.
As part of the Oslo Architecture Triennale 2019.
Curated by Maria Smith, Matthew Dalziel, Phineas Harper and Cecilie Sachs Olsen.
¡ MAINTENANCE ! [a proposition for future architectures] posits that the notion of maintenance within contemporary architectural discourse and production is an afterthought, more often overlooked than embraced. It is this gestural and process-based infrastructure that is at the beating heart of all built environments and is not necessarily about the ‘innovative’ production of the new. Without the maintenance of our cities, and of our architectures, societies would collapse under the weight of our discarded detritus. Maintenance is a social ritual, one of dépense, and a process that underpins all cultures and societies.
Collaborating with the contracted cleaner from the Oslo National Museum of Architecture, a collection of material[s] was assembled for the Triennale’s exhibition, making visible the invisible forces of specific maintenance labour[s]. An audio work was made where we discussed [through a translator] similarities in our practices as artist and cleaner, the societal and cultural perceived valuing of these practices, and the necessity of maintenance and care within our built environments.
The collection of work amplifies notions of bodily and material relations with our urban interiors and considers how maintenance might be at the centre of a degrowth society.
Photos: OAT / Istvan Virag & Annar Bjørgli / The National Museum, Norway.
This project has been assisted by the Australian Government through the Australia Council for the Arts, its arts funding and advisory body.
