This is the third episode of Art in Permacrisis, a podcast on the organization of art workers in the face of the ever-growing stack of crises. How can artists make a living without selling their souls? Can we imagine and practice a sustainable art economy beyond precarity? How should we transform the circulation of artworks, the curriculum of art and design academies, the exhibition programs of museums, and the organization of collectives and unions? We invite speakers with combined backgrounds in art, theory, and organizing to share their insights.
In this episode, we talk to Katja Praznik. Katja is an associate professor at the University at Buffalo’s Arts Management Program and the Department of Global Gender and Sexuality Studies. Our conversation focuses on her book, Art Work: Invisible Labour and the Legacy of Yugoslav Socialism as well as questions of strategy and the future of work in the arts.
Art in Permacrisis is a podcast of the Institute of Network Cultures and Caradt. It is hosted by Candela Cubria and Sepp Eckenhaussen. Tech by Tommaso Campagna. Editing by Candela Cubria.
Links
Art Work: Invisible Labour and the Legacy of Yugoslav Socialism (English) https://utorontopress.com/9781487508418/art-work/
Art Work: Invisible Labour and the Legacy of Yugoslav Socialism (Slovenian): https://maska.si/knjiga/katja-praznik-delo-umetnosti-nevidno-delo-in-zapuscina-jugoslovanskega-socializma/
Bifo’s piece on student protests/BDS protests about Palestine: https://illwill.com/sabotage-and-self-organization
Goran Đorđević’s blog with all the documentation about the artists strike: https://whatwasmodernart.wordpress.com/2020/09/11/international-strike-of-artists/
New Books Network podcast interview: https://newbooksnetwork.com/art-work
Slovenian art workers union ZASUK: https://zasuk.si/
Recommended further reading/listening/watching:
“Wages for and against Art Work: On Economy, Autonomy, and the Future of Artistic Labour,” A short text that summarizes some of the key arguments, including the feminist perspective: https://reshape.network/article/wages-for-and-against-art-work-on-economy-autonomy-and-the-future-of-artistic-labour
Wages Against Housework by Silvia Federici: https://monoskop.org/images/2/23/Federici_Silvia_Wages_Against_Housework_1975.pdf
“New Books New Feminist Directions” talk with Katja and Silvia Federici at University at Buffalo Gender Institute, Social Reproduction speaker series https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XgJv4XEEDYg
‘Wages for and against Art Work: On Economy, Autonomy, and the Future of Artistic Labour’, https://reshape.network/article/wages-for-and-against-art-work-on-economy-autonomy-and-the-future-of-artistic-labour
‘Feeling Powers Growing: An Interview with Silvia Federici’: https://joyfulmilitancy.com/2018/06/03/feeling-powers-growing-an-interview-with-silvia-federici/
Review of Art Work on the Labor Art Review: https://laborartreview.net/how-yugoslavias-self-managed-socialism-made-the-labor-of-art-invisible/
About
Art in Permacrisis is a collaboration between the Institute of Network Cultures and Caradt. It is part of the research program Our Creative Reset. The podcast hosts are Candela Cubria and Sepp Eckenhaussen.
