Does is Pay to Care?
The lecture performance “Does it pay to care?” focuses on different types of care work, such as nursing, sexual and reproductive labour. These types of work involve touch, closeness, and personal care and were traditionally relegated to women as a form of unpaid and invisible labour. The waning of the welfare state and the increasing commodification of life have led to a global increase in the number of people working in this grossly undervalued, feminised, stigmatised, hidden, poorly paid and often legally unregulated sphere of labour, which is part of the informal economy and therefore dangerous for workers. It is an expression of (global) gender, class, and racial inequalities. Despite its invisibility, however, it is essential to the functioning of society and the economy and to the maintenance of social processes. This noisy invisibility was the impetus for our curatorial investigation.
The lecture performance “Does it pay to care?” is based on the stories of eight narrators who examine the dilemmas of paid sexual work and the work of caregivers and cleaners from the perspectives of art, research, activism, and their own experience. The lecture-performance format gives equal footing to workers – lecturers, researchers, activists, and artists – whose work, skills, and experiences are differently valued and unequally socially accepted. Their main topic: (to whom) does it pay to care?
- Lecture-performance
Authors and curators: Linn Julian Koletnik, Alja Lobnik, Lučka Neža Peterlin
Co-authors and performers: Lea Aymard, Valeria Graziano, Aigul Hakimova, Nika Korenjak, Rok Kravanja, Leja Markelj, Miša Močilnikar, Darja Zaviršek
Text: Linn J. Koletnik, Alja Lobnik, Lučka Neža Peterlin
Producer: Nastja Minik Kotnik
Public relations: Urška Comino
Technical direction and space design: Igor Remeta
Graphic design: Niko Lapkovski
Produced by: Maska Ljubljana
Coporduction: Museum of Modern Art
Financial support: The City Council of Ljubljana and the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Slovenia
Premiere: 18.12.2024
The lecture performance “Does it pay to care?” will take place in English and Slovene.
The event will be followed by a discussion with the performers, which will be moderated by Linn Julian Koletnik.
The number of visitors is limited, so prior reservations are required at: pr@maska.si.
Lectures
- Lea Aymard: Hideaway When Thinking Hurts
Keywords: #Transition #TransWoman #Care #PersonalAssistance #MentalHealth #GenderIdentity #TransCommunity #GenderWork #GenderWorkIsWork #TransActivism #SocialAffection
- Valeria Graziano: Cleansing Forces: On the Removal of Unwanted Elements and the Day After the Revolution
Keywords: #cleaning #InvisibleWork #Justice of Cleansing #Division of Labour #MicropoliticsOfTouchAndDenial
- Aigul Hakimova: Incomplete Legality
Keywords: #IntermediateSpaces #Margins #SouthNorth #SocialStigma #StructuralInequality #Patriarchy #InvisibleWorkers #RoundMigration #TheRuleOfLaw
- Nika Korenjak: Bodily agency: Establishing identity
Keywords: #Identity #ArtRelations #Relationship #Intima #Game #RelationshipIntime #Theatre #BodyBody #Performance #FieldWork
- Rok Kravanja: Other Service Activities N.E.C.
Keywords: #HomosexualProstitution #Anonymity #GenderWork #Security #AfternoonActivity #GreyEconomy #Enjoyment #ContemporaryArt #PerformanceLecture #ArtisticWork #Masturbation
- Leja Markelj: “ The Feeling of Being Yourself”: Affective Sex Work
Keywords:#SexualWork #IntimateWork #EmotionalWork #Authenticity #Intimacy #GirlfriendExperience #AffectiveReversal
- Miša Močilnikar: Sister, You Have Golden Hands
Keywords: #Nursing #HomeForNurses #Empathy #Dignity #Dignity #Respect #Minimity
- Darja Zaviršek: Violent Care Unlimited
Keywords: #PeopleWithHarmsAndHelp #InstitutionalViolence #Patronage #UnitedNationsConventionOnPeopleWithHarmsAgainstPeopleWithHarms #CareWorkAsSupervision #PowerRights #PowerRights #PowerRights #CaringWorkAsSupervision #PowerRights #SpatialSegregation
