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Our post about Muscle Memory is elsewhere on this site...and it was a long process... but we are thrilled that the sculpture-including a solar element- has found a permanent home at IBEW Local 3. Below is a repost from their communications.  For International Women's Day the collective Chto Delat approached us about organizing for International Women's Day/International Women's Strike as part of their participation in the exhibition Revolutions from Without. After brainstorming with Tools and Tiara's founder Judaline Cassidy , we reached out to Athena Soules of New York City Light Brigade to collaborate once again. Beautiful day.   As part of WAC's participation as fellows in More Arts Engaging Artists Fellowship, WAC members participated in an open reading and discussion at the Here Arts center while utilizing their installation as a podium. Here Stephanie Lawal reads the latest iteration of her poem The Cost of Labor Too.....  Paul Vance reading and talking through one of the zines he produced.
Take a peek into the WAC process as we work to represent a collaborative practice while dealing with the real struggles of collectivism. All of us interpret the Ladder of Participation in very different ways, but came together to engineer, construct and deconstruct a modernist object in public space. Thank you ABC No Rio, EstheR Neff, Steven Englander, Bullet Space, Occupy Museums, Social Health Performance Club, Culture Push, Chinatown Art Brigade 唐人街藝術隊／ 唐人街艺术队, Feminist Art Group, Shantar Gibson, and everyone who helped make this possible. In construction, It could mean non-union workers in a union jurisdiction, or another trade getting a little too comfortable and claiming a different skillset. As an artist, it could mean someone is using your work as their own, taking credit for others work without crediting creators. What’s your work? If your work is performed out of the workplace, in a gallery - is it still your work? When I set out to draw 100 containers in 100 days I had a few things in mind. One was simply to practice drawing. I don't have drawing training (aside from working my way through half of Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain several times.) Drawing doesn't come easily, but it does change the way I see and think, so it feels worthwhile. I chose containers because they are close at hand, provide the kinds of shapes that I keep trying to understand visually, AND because I thought that contemplating these everyday objects would be a way to focus on the opaqueness of so many systems that shape our lives - invisible labor, unknown ingredients, impenetrable financial mechanisms. I will say that in the scramble to draw something every day this "big idea" pretty much fell away. These are the upsides and downsides to 100-day projects. They help sustain small acts of creative work in the face of life's other daily demands. At the same time they may not be as useful in making progress on larger, lumpier, more complicated, and non-distillable art challenges. Perhaps some residue of the larger idea floats around the drawings. I think the process has at least helped me to hold these questions in mind. And I have made a little progress in drawing circles and boxes in perspective... Check out the rest of the collection here. https://elizag100containers.tumblr.com/  After lots of work and a winter snow storm mess, WAC reveals a glimpse of what our alternative archive represents. It stand for workers collecting worker stories, respect for worker skill and craft, and another way for workers to connect through art. Come Join us as we discuss these connections at NURTUREart on April 1st, 2017 3pm - 5pm 56 Bogart Street Brooklyn, NY 11206 (718) 782-7755 CulturePush Link - Workers Art Coalition - Public Program NURTUREart Link - Workers Art Coalition - Public Program Special thanks to Athena and NYC Light Brigade for your support.  Day one of the conduit install as part of Culture Push's The Archive of Affect. @NURTUREart - 56 Bogart Street, Brooklyn, New York. The installation incorporates key aspects of the electrician's craft, such as conduit bending and will be accompanied by visual explorations created by WAC that draw on themes from worker-to-worker interviews being deposited to the Library of Congress. Join us at the opening March 17th 7-10pm. Two days under the shadow of possible executive order regarding immigrants and refugees from 7 muslim countries: Yesterday I was writing back and forth with my lawyer, friends in similar situation and refreshing the news page as soon as I could take time off of work. Yesterday morning I figured that Bank of America has applied "soft restriction" on my bank account as my current visa status which is stated on my current documents will be expired in 30 days and as a citizen of a sanctioned country the bank can and did cancel all of my cards. I withdraw the money and closed the account as I was advised to, before I face a complete blockage on my accounts. With fear, confusion and frustration I left the bank and headed to Washington Square to see and show solidarity and participate in the rally. I heard so many worried voices and the order fell as a big shock on everything those people had planned for their life. Every face looked confused and shocked. At night I got all the kind messages and offers of help and support, each of which made me conscious of how many great friends I am forced to miss. We fantasised about my long time dream of road trip with an RV. I woke up with headache and stuffy nose and sore throat thinking I should make it to my doctor appointment 'cause who knows when I am going to lose my job and so my insurance! From the doctor's office in the morning till few hours ago I was running around and talking on phone to get some documents to my lawyer who doesn't know whether or not I should apply for a visa renewal in this situation! In my head I am going from plan A to plan B to an alternative plan C to how much saving I have in case I need to go for plan D and what/who do I have to leave under each possible option. Every single option take so much from me. This order is essentially another wall. I have no time to choose which side of it I can/want to be. -Setare Arashloo  After various collaborations and group projects from 2013 until present, the need has emerged for a re-evaluation of WAC working methods in search of more sustained and sustainable practice. There is an understanding that for WAC to have real relevance to fellow tradespeople, it's stewardship must primarily be in the hands of workers themselves. Drawing wisdom of artisan traditions gathered from both study and the experience of tradespeople describing camaraderie despite personal differences when building together. We began to focus on the worker as artist model and its possible impacts on worker education at the Van Arsdale Center. Learning ways to balance art projects with working lives while securing necessary funding. Strengthening our foundation by developing community, labor networks and institutional funding sources. Our latest audio archive project and visual storytelling class departs from our form based practices however, we have not forgotten what it feels like to build together. The longer term goal is to work towards giving physical form to our current projects in a culminating traveling exhibit with public programming.
Last Thursday, November 17th, we conducted our first interview with Paul Vance.
The 20 interviews will be housed at the Library of Congress and will represent a cross section of what it means to be an electrician in NYC along with the exciting on the jobs stories we listen to in the shanty on a daily basis. We hope to take these stories and create visual representations in the form of comics and / or animations. We have several projects in the works, namely an ethnography we just got a grant for and continued work on the Precarious Workers Pageant. There are other projects also in the works that would be partnerships, will post about this soon.
CULTURE PUSH exhibit from the Fellowship of Utopian Practice Hana Georg solidarity piece at Westbeth gallery.  Program 21 - This Womans Work : Selected Shorts
featuring Workers Art Coalition - NYC - By Setare S. Arashloo about Workers Art Coalition, an evolving group of building trades women and men who collaborate on art and movement, building projects in public spaces. (2015, 11 min) Cinema Village - 22 East 12th Street, New York, NY 10003 Paul Vance exhibited this work of visual storytelling that he produced for WAC at the Graduate Institute for Design, Ethnography and Social Thought. ETHNOGRAPHY IN THE EXPANDED FIELD  The end of the Fight for 15 Day of Action at the Trump protest at the Grand Hyatt.
 Jaime Lopez holding a Bernie LED sign he made with help from Tati Vargas and in solidarity with the NYC Light Brigade at the Bernie Sander's march on 4/16. WAC member Barrie Cline was also in support of this action.
On Saturday February 13th, Stephanie and I represented Workers Art Coalition at a workshop organized by PCA and Papel Machete taking place in the MAYDAY space. We learned how Papel Machete has used theater techniques along with visual arts, paper signs and masks to strengthen the voice of campaigns they have been involved in. We participated in improvisations exercises in teams and discussed the different interpretations amongst ourselves. One amazing tactic is to envision each project as if you where seeing it through photos tomorrow. The framing of these movements and objects are just as important as the actions themselves because they allow people that are not present to get a sense of what happened that day. We hope to express these teachings to the rest of our group and implement them in future projects.
-Jaime Lopez Papel Machete Facebook Page Research field trip to the American Labor Museum, housed in the Botto House National Landmark in Haledon, NJ. The house was a haven for free speech and assembly during the 1913 Paterson Silk Strike. Labor organizers from the IWW addressed thousands of mill workers from the balcony at Sunday rallies over the course of the strike. We got a wonderful tour from Education Director Evelyn Hershey and explored their extensive lending library and archives.
Much rehearsal, some good wine and food, and the best of conversation and camaraderie, have all been essential components for making today's Precarious Workers' Pageant, a hit as I am sure it will be. Thanks to this great group of travelers/artists/activists/overall good people. #gulfpageant -Stephanie Lawal The Shape of Solidarity: Hana Georg in collaboration with Setare Arashloo and Stephanie Lawal. Sound recording research project and video installation. Friday, May 15, 2015, 6:00-8:00pm,
QCA’s 3rd Space program will feature “The Worker’s Art Coalition of New York City” A documentary by Astoria filmmaker Setare Arashloo presented by the LIC Labor Lyceum and Astoria Historical Society. "The Worker's Art Coalition: Creating Socially Engaged Art in the Public Realm" presented at Student Academic Conference. Saratoga Springs, NY When you dare to experiment, beautiful things begin to manifest. You are rewarded your for the risk, and all those nerves are long gone! Thank you everyone for interacting with us a making this event so much more than a panel discussion.
-Jaime Lopez Design for the People's Climate March GPRO - Urban Green Council joins forces with the Workers Art Coalition, local builders and makers to represent the building trades in the largest climate-related mobilization in U.S. history. Gan Golan led a design and visioning session with big ideas for the People's Climate March happening in New York City on September 21st. It was a showcase of the every day as work GPRO certificate holders and other future builders of green infrastructure. Working to amplify the voice of building trade workers in the climate movement. Where:People's Climate March - Mayday Space 214 Starr St, Brooklyn, NY |
working to amplify the voice of social justice movements through the vision of labor, manifested in public art forms. Archives
January 2024
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