Durational work with pen, paper, coffee, kettle, cup, mop, bucket, desk, chair, marble, charred wood
Glasgow School of Art, 2011
Over and over, again and again was a durational work which looked at different forms of labour - taken from day jobs and the studio - and their effects on the body. Mimicking the typical working day, from 9-5 each day I decided on a task, wrote it on the wall, interpreted how to execute it and repeated it throughout the day. On the first day I began with trying to keep a cup of coffee hot and on the fifth day I suffered an injury for which I was given a statutory sick pay notice. The note formed the final part of the work.
The repetition and contingency of performing the tasks moved between boredom to the cosmic, bringing already existing entropic and generative material processes into view. It also held in tension both the failure and the potential of autonomous, artistic and creative forms of labour to emancipate the individual from other forms of waged labour, blurring the space between meaningful and meaningless forms of work.
Day 1: Keep the cup of coffee hot.
Day 2: Draw your hand.
Day 3: Carve.
Day 4: Pick up sticks.
Day 5: Watch over.
Day 6: Statutory Sick Pay Notice.
Day 7: Statutory Sick Pay Notice.