Opening: Sunday July 6th, 12 p.m Much to our regret, job informality appears to be the best way to account for the changes in the labour market, which have intensified over the course of this century. This exhibition focuses on the visual representation of the most extreme forms of job informality, overlooking slightly less intense aspects, in the belief that this is a pressing issue that needs to be addressed immediately. As part of a broader research project on the representation of work in images over the last twenty years, Some Trades focuses on those tasks, trades and jobs, which are currently subject to the greatest invisibility and deepest precariousness.
The time frame begins in 2003 and focuses on the world of work during the years of political and economic recovery after the crisis, acknowledging the consequences of 2001 but without holding it entirely responsible. Ending the research in 2023 does not mean ignoring the radical nature of the new government's labour deregulation policies but rather highlighting that much of the job informality intensified by political measures these years has been unfolding in the recent past. From now on, it is clear that we will only see a perverse escalation whereby we workers will perform our tasks for a longer time under harder conditions and for a lower pay.
It was extremely difficult to identify themes related to job informality in Argentina between 2003 and 2023 in contemporary art. With only a few exceptions, the concept of work appears only in fragmented and infrequent ways throughout the careers of many of the artists featured in this exhibition. Such an experience, far from being merely a disappointment regarding the politicisation of art during that period, reveals the undeniable impact that job insecurity has on our lives. In fact, many of the pieces gathered here reflect the harshest years of the deterioration of labour relations, as if by way of an instinctive reaction. Yet the works selected for this exhibition, ranging from the world of construction to art as a form of labour, share a common basis in that they are neither evasive nor tangential to the central theme: they observe labour, expose its fragility, and forcefully convey its hardships. This is no time for beating around the bush.
Finally, Some Trades seeks to distance itself from the few exhibitions on the topic held in the last two decades: from those that emphasized the dignity of labour, ignoring its pitfalls, and from those that, without speaking of work itself, desperately sought to recognize a self-aware, homogeneous, and united class where none existed. For this reason, Some Trades is not a celebration of work or of the “working classes”. Talking about labour informality inherently involves a critical reflection on the centuries-old work ethic. We are faced with a scenario in which the very concept of class has been dismantled. What is emerging, at best, is a new class in formation, still diffuse and with diverse political lines: the precariat.
While not a celebration, this exhibition aims to gather images that reveal how labour renders life vulnerable and uncertain, encouraging us to forge powerful alliances to change the paradigm of sacrifice for good.
Image: Adriana Bustos (ARG) Objects in mirror are closer than they appear, 2005 - 2025.