Beijing Project n.37 Celyn Bricker 博凯

With this project Celyn Bricker 博凯 explores an ambiguous territory between art and labour, where an interesting artistic result can be read both as a clever creative act and as a trick to increase the workers’ productivity.

In his own words: “In this intervention I wanted to see whether I could collaborate with the factory workers to create an artwork without them changing their behaviour or any part of the working process. Part of the assembly line includes a section where the machine being built is spray-painted in a confined space. I collected the waste cloths used by workers in all parts of the process and hung them in the spray area. The worker employed to spray the machines carried on as usual; the difference was that the cloths now collected the traces of his action.

“This intervention can be understood in relation to the historical concept of la perruque, which originated in early industrial Europe, where factory owners tolerated workers using factory equipment for their own ends. Greater demands for efficiency have made this small expression of individual freedom almost impossible. In my intervention I actually increased the factory’s efficiency, using otherwise wasted material and energy to create a collaboratively made artwork.”