Exhibition in Landau

I spent five days in Landau (Pfalz), to attend the European Citizens Convention on volunteering. My presence at such event was mainly justified to exhibit “Structurally recyclable, basically disposable“, which represented a more critical take on the issue of volunteering, or more precisely, a statement on how internship is too often mingled with volunteering (and that, as you know, is very wrong).
Coming from the NGO world as I do, I was also naturally interested in the rest of the event, mainly the talks and seminars all around volunteering. Being skeptical by nature, I was a little afraid that the convention was simply going to focus on the great aspects of the volunteering sector without much attention to the context in which volunteering is inserted, that (to name one) is the realization that volunteers have basically become a self-evident reality without which no cultural event would ever take place.
I was very happy to have been proven wrong: this event had a lot of interesting content. However, fear not, you will have your share of critical analysis yet again.
As far as my exhibition is concerned, you can see a little video and read a full report as well (both by “Europe and Me“, media partner at the event).

The problem of gathering and presenting data

The convention was officially opened by a speech delivered by Dr. Peter Heuberger of the Staatskanzlei Rheinland-Pfalz, in which he reported on a lot of interesting data on volunteering:
- 3/10 of Europeans volunteer
- For every euro that goes into supporting of volunteering activities, 3 to 4 Euros are gained.
- Volunteering makes up 2 to 7% of the GDP of national economies (48 billion pounds in the UK)

Visitors in Landau

Citing data from a study commissioned by the European Commission, he then went on to say that volunteering is unevenly distributed: there is a high engagement rate in Scandinavian countries, to then descend all the way to the bottom, Italy.
From the same study, it appears that more men then women volunteer (40% vs. 32%), that families with many children dedicate more time to volunteering than singles, that people seem to be more active in rural areas than in cities and that there is still a huge potential because one third of those who don’t volunteer would like to do so. It also looks as though, whereas there has been a slight decrease in youth engagement, there have been increasingly more volunteers among those of sixty years and older. The main motivations to volunteer remain to “shape society and to meet people with similar interests”. However, if in the 60s and 70s the focus was more around doing charity work, it looks as if nowadays the motivation is more individualist in nature and revolves around doing something for others to feel better about oneself and to build a certain identity.
Dr. Peter Heuberger used much of these data on the following day as well, during the plenary session at the University of Landau, which preceded the working groups on various specific topics. During this presentation he highlighted the importance of volunteering “as a power for social integration” because of its high social meaning that is detached from the way a business works in that it is “trust based, takes place in the public sphere, it is transparent and solidarity driven and is consensus oriented”. Civil society is seen as a social sector and a collective subject and it gains more and more importance because, due to the current crisis within national parties politics which has been influencing the European institutions as well, lawmakers would not do without the citizens.
He then highlighted many of the problems and challenges around volunteering, mainly the lack of a legal framework, social protections, insurance and a proper code of conduct. There are also some legal constraints around volunteering which limit the time that some categories (retirees and unemployed) can devote to volunteering activities in some countries.

The problem of dealing with data that are then to be presented to the public, and a response to Dr. Heuberger’s speech, was addressed during the plenary session by Agnes Uherczky of the Association of Voluntary Service Organisations (AVSO), who shed some light on the mentioned study. She pointed out that the data introduced did not fully reflect reality as the study commissioned by EU had not been well funded. The researchers then had to do a lot of desk research, which resulted in stats that do not always take into account the different local realities. For example, she mentioned that the poor scoring of Italy in terms of engagement does not integrate the fact that volunteering is different in this country where it is not as common to ask for fees to participate into an association (in sharp contract to Scandinavian countries). As a participant pointed out during the discussion, in Austria firefighters in rural areas are mainly volunteers, and these are mostly men. Surely these local specificities were not mentioned.
She summarizes the problem by stating that “European politicians think that volunteering is free”. However, it is not.

The influence of the private sector on the volunteering sector

All this is nice and well, but Dr. Heuberger could not stop using the words social capital (volunteering creates social competences that are requested by companies) and productivity. Volunteering, he asserted, generates benefits and productivity that neither the State nor the economy can provide.
He then closed his first speech mentioning social responsibility and the need for a new social contract, because “if you’re not at the table, chances are you’re on the menu“.

This excessive (to me at least) focus on productivity and social capital, even when it is mitigated by the concession that volunteering needs more recognition and that its value is not and cannot be monetary, is an interesting indicator that even within the framework of a conference where no direct potential donors are present, we (as a collective) are constantly driven to justify the presence of an activity whose value and positive impact cannot be directly and quickly assessed.
As you might have guessed by the highlighted terms in the previous paragraph, the private sector has been slowly taking over many volunteering activities. Dr. Rosário Costa-Schott, a consultant and project manager, mentioned during the panel discussion that in Germany this has become a very professionalized and formal sector and many of the Big organizations (Caritas, Red Cross, Diakonie, etc..) seem to face problems in receiving, qualifying and accepting non-formal volunteering. These non-formal volunteering activities are not represented in the process and do not make into the study. If through the increasing popularity of “social responsibility” the private sector enters the process, is this really a good idea to leave it all to them?

The supposed self-evidence of the voluntariness in cultural activities

I then took part to a seminar titled “The supposed self-evidence of the voluntariness in cultural activities”, and I was also encouraged to share some of the problems that I have faced while looking for funding for my projects.
The seminar was led by a local arts professor, Mrs. Tina Stolt, and it started by acknowledging that “without Volunteering in cultural and art activities, education and exhibitions, there would be not much more than nothing”.

I found this little (and not too well-attended) workshop very refreshing and down to Earth.
We started by highlighting the obvious contradictions that exist around art: on the one hand art is considered as a “volunteer job”, where artists have no economic security and are not expected to be making much money from their work. Most artists are in fact almost “forced” to be volunteers (let’s not forget that one of the defining characteristics of volunteering is the element of free will), and there seems to be a general “uneasiness” to talk about money when setting up an exhibition or working on a project (see here).
On the other hand, art is taken for granted, it is expected to be there. It is considered as a luxury, something to cut back on when economic crisis sets in, but still expected to work and mostly adapt to the logic of the capitalist market. This results in funding coming mainly from the private sector, which cuts out a large part of “non conventional” artists.
Not only are many governments cutting funding for cultural activities, they are at the same time spending an enormous amount of money setting up large exhibitions featuring some big names to display abroad. Artists are expected to compete into the market and no one seemed to know where this underestimation of art came from. The consequences: all is left to the private sector and to volunteers.
I have to mention that we had a wonderful guest during the seminar: a representative of the women artists association GEDOK (specifically the Karlsruhe branch), who told us a bit about the history of the organization and the struggle to get women into shows and exhibitions.

Two photographers, Elisabetta Lombardo and Gabriele di Stefano, explore Berlin and its surroundings and look for artists, groups, organizations, whose idea of work is based on the concept of sharing knowledge to provide self-sufficiency to others.
We each bring our own understanding and view of self-sufficiency and accept that, as our investigation evolves, we will widen our own perspectives.

The key is the absence of criteria of entry, the openness of the activities. These are not mere courses or classes, these are open spaces for learning and doing, spaces that do not restrict access. They all, in a way or another, have to do with sharing knowledge, skills or spaces with others and contribute to the creation of a new idea of work, one that is not so much based on selection, restriction and scarcity, but one where independence can be achieved and where competence is not sold to the highest bidder.
We explore different fields, from printing, to sewing, to fixing things. The interviews will be published on both our websites.

You think you know someone? Contact us!

Dieses Projekt soll eine Erkundung des Konzeptes von Selbstversorgung sein in einer Zeit, da viele sich enorm anstrengen müssen, um über die Runden zu kommen und in der Wissen und Fähigkeiten nicht das Privileg einiger Weniger sind, sondern für jeden leichter zugänglich.

Der Schlüssel ist dabei, dass es keine Eintrittsbarrieren gibt, dass die Aktivitäten offen sind. Dabei geht es nicht bloß um Kurse oder Seminare, sondern um offene Räume zum Lernen und Machen, Räume ohne Zugangsbeschränkungen. Sie alle teilen, auf verschiedenem Wege, Wissen, Fähigkeiten oder Räume mit anderen und tragen damit zu einer neuen Idee von Arbeit bei, die nicht primär auf Auswahl, Abgrenzung und Verknappung basiert, sondern eine, in welcher Unabhängigkeit erreicht werden kann und Kompetenz nicht einfach an den Meistbietenden verscherbelt wird.

This project is meant to be an investigation into the concept of self-sufficiency in a time when many of us struggle to make ends meet, in a time when knowledges and skills are not the prerogative of the few, but are more easily accessible for everyone.
Sharing knowledge and skills can mean many different things: it can be a way out of a system based on products that are designed and made under precarious economic and social conditions, it can mean having the chance to contribute to a project where all the participants accept that things can be done together and that, together, it’s possible to enjoy the result. In this case it can be like open-source software, where software is not intended in its most used meaning, rather as a project, that is built and changed by people. The actors, through their participation, give the “software” greater complexity.
What if this software, this project, was the way we work, or work (“Arbeit”) in general? Work is always changing, and the idea that skills and working spaces are to be shared and passed on is at center of our investigation.

The key is the absence of criteria of entry, the openness of the activities. These are not mere courses or classes, these are open spaces for learning and doing, spaces that do not restrict access. They all, in a way or another, have to do with sharing knowledge, skills or spaces with others and contribute to the creation of a new idea of work, one that is not so much based on selection, restriction and scarcity, but one where independence can be achieved and where competence is not sold to the highest bidder.

The very first portrait is dedicated to SDW Neukölln, (Siebdruck Werkstatt), an open screen-printing studio where artists or small labels can use a very professional infrastructure. But SDW Neukölln is much much more.
Elisabetta went to visit the studio and sat down with one of the project’s initiators, Tom Hansing, for an interview.

Tom

Elisabetta: How did you come up with the idea to found SDW?

Tom: The idea came in 2006. I live close to the Rütli school, which in that year was brought to the center of attention through a letter by the teachers to the responsible Senate commission. The school was used as an example of everything that is wrong with the German school system, with a special focus on the migrant kids, depicting them as having no respect, almost “the terrorists of the future”, who don’t speak any German, they are not “our kids”, but the others’. So a couple of friends and I decided to create a garment label, “RÜTLI-WEAR wear”, with the idea to have an attached screen-printing studio. In the end, however, the project of the screen-printing studio came to a halt shortly before its “launch”. Then, two local artists, Agnieszka Jeziorski and Julien Ludwig-Legardez, two very active people, crossed my path during that time. They had the same idea but a different vision, so we decided to open SDW together and each brought her/his personal perspective to the project.

SDW Neukölln is now an open collective of eight to twelve people. Everyday, someone is the studio host, answering questions about all things screen-printing. We have an employee, Joaquin, who takes care of bookkeeping, writes bills, etc.. The others come here and, as compensation, are able to use the studio free of charge. That is why these are people who have a special affinity to screen-printing, such as Louise, an artist and a professional screen-printer, who brings a very specific know-how. Through the studio we don’t make any money, it’s a zero-sum process. We use the money to pay the costs and operating the atelier is done on a voluntary basis. We also do take some external jobs but this is independent from the studio per se.

Louise

Elisabetta: What can be done here and who comes here? Why create an open studio?

Tom: Well, we are not service providers. We approach Work in a different manner. We want to share our knowledge and our infrastructure, which we have in large part received as a gift by a master screen-printer who liked our project. It’s also more fun to meet other people and be exposed to different ideas.
Everything that has to do with screen-printing can be achieved here: printing on paper, foil, wood, glass, T-shirts, wallpaper, etc. If you already know how to print by yourself, you can come here and for a small renting price, realize your projects. It doesn’t matter whether it’s art or whether you’re doing something commercial, as long as it’s not racist or sexist, you’re welcome!
Some of the people who come here to print are artists, some have their own label. Sometimes we see some very special projects, like printing street games, foam dice, special varnish refinished magazines..
Also, SDW is a venue for events..

Elisabetta:..precisely. What types of events take place here?

Tom: SDW wishes to also give a space to Arts and Culture. For example, the artists collective “Nothing but printing” come here. They do mainly one-day-projects, Pop-Up Art, very temporary projects that do not last for a long time. Contemporary art events happen here. It doesn’t cost anything to use the space and it can be rented by anyone. It’s not like we accept just about anything but it’s not curated in the classical sense. If you have an idea and have enough strength to see it come alive, you can come here.

Elisabetta: And also learn..

Tom: Yes. That has to do specifically with screen-printing. If you don’t know how things are done and are interested in the medium, every saturday there are introductory courses where you will learn the different steps involved in screen-printing and how to use the studio, in order to, eventually, be able to work by yourself. We also offer different courses and project formats for schools, students, educational institutions or private people.

Elisabetta: What does “self-sufficiency” mean to you and how important is it as basis for your work?
Tom: It is a very broad term. originally one might say, self-sufficiency for us means being able to get low-priced garments, since we are able to get these clothes for reasonable prices and thus to pass them on at reasonable prices. Here you can decorate, “modify” clothing for not too much money. However, I think self-sufficiency here means more the creative self-sufficiency: with our studio, we want to create and maintain a place that puts the infrastructures at other people’s disposal, so that people who can’t afford their own studio, or simply don’t want to set up one because they prefer to work with other people, can come here and profit from a professional structure. A self-sufficiency with infrastructures, a sort of self-sufficiency for a community that creates spaces for the community. It is also about the neighborhood, about creating a social space where new ideas circulate, with a lot of exchange also with the neighbors themselves. We do a lot of things together, such as the big street fest here. A reciprocal self-sufficiency with inspiration and social warmth.

SDW Neukölln is located on the Pflügerstr. 11, 12047 Berlin (Underground stop: U8 Schönleinstr.). Opening times: Tuesday to Friday 10 am to 7 pm. You can find out when the next Saturday courses will be on the website, where you can also find lots of useful information on all things screen-printing.

Now I am here for the rest of week, occasionally coming by the university to check that everything is in place. If anyone intends to come and ask me questions or have a chat, please let me know in advance so that I can make sure to be there at that time.

I also have to announce that due to the aforementioned issues, I will demount the exhibition on Friday evening, which means that the photos will not be up anymore on Saturday. It’s a security measure because I need to catch a train on Saturday and I can’t risk to miss due to the absence of university personnel.

Please do come to see the exhibition while it’s there, as it will probably be the last show for “Structurally recyclable, basically disposable“.

The exhibition, as you know, is currently in Naples and the great thing about this is the way in which the space has been organized. “Structurally recyclable, basically disposable” is a special exhibition in that it is a traveling one and being composed of two installations, it is not always easy to adapt the space to the work that is being shown.
What we have achieved in the bookstore Archeologiattiva is very special, I think.
Basically, the pictures hang from the ceiling, which adds a 3D-like quality to the entire show. As you walk inside the bookstore under the first installation, the cut portraits hang above you.

On the left side hangs the second part of the exhibition, the one with the full portraits and the texts.

All in all, this has been a great experience on how to use the space for the exhibition.
Once again, thank you all for coming, for the great debate the night of the vernissage, and for your response, which leads me to think that even though this project has been a long and solitary work, it has been worth it.
I remind you, the exhibition is in Naples until the 31st of May.

It’s been a long and full week here in Italy. I am currently writing from a beautiful library downtown Turin to give you some updates on the exhibition that is to see in Naples until the 31st in the bookstore Archeologiattiva, and on the vernissage that was held on the 10th of May.

The vernissage has been a great event, especially due to the presence of Raffaella R. Ferré, who read from her latest work, a short story published in the collection “Qui si chiama fatica” and of two representatives of the group “Coordinamento giornalisti precari Campania” who talked about their work, namely Ciro Pellegrino and Guiseppe Manzo. By the way, if you are in Naples you HAVE to go to their next meeting, which will be held this Friday in the Ubik bookstore downtown Naples. They will present the latest result of a long research about those shameful “short” and expensive courses that will make you into a journalist in a flash.

Anyway, within the already great media coverage, here is a small preview of the vernissage, specifically the intervention of the aforementioned group.

More videos will come soon.

Also, here is the interview I gave to Radio Popolare on the 11th of May, for those who could not tune in at the time (the interview starts at 3:01 of the recording).

Structurally recyclable, basically disposable is funded and supported by Stiftung Menschenwürde und Arbeitswelt.

It’s time for me to announce the next leg of the tour! Structurally recyclable, basically disposable is moving to Naples from the 10th to the 31st of May 2010 and it is with great pleasure that I am announcing this exhibition.
The show will be in the charming Archeologiattiva bookstore, downtown Naples (map)

The vernissage, which will take place on the 10th (monday) from 6.30 pm, will also be the occasion for us to host a reading and discussion on the topic of internships and precarious work, with, inter alia, our guest Raffaella R. Ferré, author of “Santa Precaria“.

See you there, I hope!

Last Friday, as you know, was the day of the opening of the exhibition in Hamburg. Thanks to CampusGrün, who invited me to show my work at the university and to their members who helped out a lot with the installation, I am now proudly showing off the result of a hard day’s work.

As usual, the exhibition is composed of a two-parts installation. The first part, that you see below, is directly placed at the entrance of the building and we realized quickly that it had been a good decision because a lot of people showed their interest right away.

Mounting this time was a little bit of a challenge, but we made it.

The second part is mounted in the main hall just around the corner, where students normally sit down to study, discuss or drink a coffee.

The vernissage was held that same day. I don’t have the photos of the people who came because we ended up sitting around a table and talking about the project etcetera.

My apologies, this photo took itself.

Don’t forget that the exhibition is open until the 30th! More information here.