In her book -— Art Work: Invisible Labour and the Legacy of Yugoslav Socialism (University of Toronto, 2021), Katja Praznik counters the Western understanding of art – as a passion for self-expression and an activity done out of love, without any concern for its financial aspects – and instead builds a case for understanding art as a form of invisible labour. Focusing on the experiences of art workers and the history of labour regulation in the arts in socialist Yugoslavia, Praznik helps elucidate the contradiction at the heart of artistic production and the origins of the mystification of art as labour. This event features Silvia Federici as a guest commentator.
The video is provided by the University of Buffalo’s Gender Institute