Wojciech Gilewicz "Residency Unlimited"
Flux Factory
This event has ended.
During the course of two months, Gilewicz cleaned Flux Factory as a way to explore the overlap of immigration status and the paradoxes of artistic success. The artist has written the following statement about his project at Flux Factory:
As a Polish immigrant, I have always had to face the truth about the most popular jobs for first generation Polish immigrants in the US, namely cleaning and construction. As an artist, I have firsthand experience with these jobs, in order to secure funds for my living expenses and – above all – for the production of my artworks. As Wojciech Gilewicz, a private person, I have always sought cleanliness, order, and harmony.
In March and April 2012 I cleaned the Flux Factory building, to explore the intersection of immigrant labor and artistic practice. My goal was not to play the role of a cleaner but to really become a cleaner. I decided to start my project as an anonymous person, working in a building as a sort of a trade worker. In fact I was also trying to limit theoretical approach of any kind to my project and concentrate instead on the simple physical action of changing and organizing the space.
Could cleaning be seen as a tool for beautification and changing reality, in a way that art can sometimes do? How would this project be perceived in terms of art? Can you judge cleaning and its outcome in the same way you judge art? Can a cleaner become an artist as much as an artist can become a cleaner?
My project in Flux Factory, as a two month part-time unpaid job, and the exhibition “Residency Unlimited” were made possible thanks to a grant from the Polish Ministry of Culture. This adds yet another layer to the discussion about the paradoxes of the art system today, its institutions, networks and possibilities that artists have to create and exhibit their work.
In addition to video of his cleaning project, Gilewicz will also show two other video works, Bat-Yam (2009) and Shanghai (2008).
Media
Schedule
from May 19, 2012 to May 29, 2012
Opening Reception on 2012-05-18 from 18:00 to 21:00