October 19, 5pm, Kiasma foyer balcony

Contemporary art often engages critically with socioeconomic issues, but the economic conditions of its own production are rarely put in focus.

However, even if the precariousness of working conditions in the art field becomes an object of discussion, it appears to be extremely difficult to find a common platform from which to address and change that situation.

In the talk, Airi Triisberg will reflect on her experience of participating in an informal art workers network in Tallinn during 2010–2011. This network has initiated public debates around working conditions in the local art field. Its three main points of interest have been incomes, social guarantees and organizing models. On the grassroots level, a great deal of effort has been put into breaking the silence around addressing economic conditions of art production and discussing collective forms of action and solidarity.

While taking the Tallinn network as a case study, Triisberg will also make references to other art workers’ initiatives which have emerged in the recent years. She aims to open up a discussion about possible forms of organizing in the field of art: What are the collective modes of organization that could be used to build up a struggle against precarious living and working conditions within the fragmented labour world?

Airi Triisberg is an art worker based in Tallinn and Leipzig. Her activities include writing, curating and organizing. Currently she is a curator in residence at HIAP in the frame of Step by Step project supported by Kulturkontakt Nord (KKN). The talk is organised in collaboration with the Sounds Like Work project.

Sounds Like Work
 on November 16–18, 2012
 at Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art, Helsinki



“When more or less everything – including art – is turning into work, what is freedom?”

Sounds Like Work explores the relationship of art to work through language, sound, and video. The event takes place at Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art in Helsinki on November 16–18, 2012. Invited artists include Bill Drummond, Ingo Niermann, Anneli Nygren and Jaakko Pallasvuo. The event is curated by Kimmo Modig and Jenna Sutela, and produced by Äänen Lumo. In October, the working group has held an Open Office on the Kiasma foyer balcony.