January 23–May 1, 2016
Artists: Maja Bajević, Berwick Street Film Collective, KP Brehmer, Revital Cohen & Tuur Van Balen, Jeuno Kim, Michala Paludan, Esther Shalev-Gerz, Mladen Stilinović, Oliver Walker
Lunds konsthall is very happy to be able to present Our Work, an exhibition that investigates how work organises our existence and defines our characters. Today salaried work determines not only the working time; contemporary work creates roles and modes of being that have a deep impact also on what may be called leisure, values, life. The exhibition reflects how work regulates how we live but also how it may be used as a political tool.
The exhibition title, Our Work, references the history of Lunds konsthall. In 1978 a group exhibition with this title was produced, but then the emphasis was on the worker’s body and the perspective mainly Swedish. In 2016, Our Work incorporates two points of view: that of contemporary reality and that of the 1970s. The exhibition moves between the dichotomy that dominated the Cold War period and today’s globalised outlook, between the pioneers of women’s liberation and contemporary feminist consciousness.
There is a long tradition in art of depicting and influencing how we work. Here nine rather different artists are brought together, each with a specific approach to the theme of work. Some of their works are ongoing projects, which started before this exhibition and will continue after it is over.
Lunds konsthall wishes to first thank all the artists for their extraordinary works and our excellent collaboration. We also warmly thank all the lenders for their generous contributions to the exhibition, among them Sebastian Brehmer at KP Brehmer Sammlung und Nachlass in Berlin, Galerie Peter Kilchmann in Zurich, René Block in Berlin and Galerie nächst St. Stephan in Vienna. We also thank the Labour Movement’s Archive in Malmö and the City Archives of Lund and Malmö. Special thanks to Inter Arts Center in Malmö.
Berwick Street Film Collective, active in 1970–78 in London, consisted of Marc Karlin, 1943–99, and James Scott, born in 1941. The film Nightcleaners was a collaboration with Mary Kelly, born in 1941, and Humphry Trevelyan, born in 1944; KP Brehmer, born in 1938 in Berlin and died in 1997 in Hamburg; Revital Cohen, born in 1981 in Jerusalem and Tuur Van Balen, born in 1981 in Leuven, works in London; Jeuno Kim, born in 1976 in Seoul, works in Berlin and Malmö; Michala Paludan, born in 1983 in Copenhagen, where she also works; Esther Shalev-Gerz, born in 1948 in Vilnius, works in Paris; Mladen Stilinović, born in 1947 in Belgrade, works in Zagreb; Oliver Walker, born in 1980 in Liverpool, works in Berlin.