Bodies of Work – A Symposium – CLICK HERE
Vitalstatistix’s Contemporary Communities initiative
Bodies of Work is Vitalstatistix’s latest multi-year Contemporary Communities project, exploring the broad territory of the nature of labour/work, labour organising and rights, artists as workers, and the future of work.
Bodies of Work includes development and commissioning of new works by Australian artists – which in 2021 commenced with a ten-day artist lab around May Day, and then the premiere of Natalie Harkin’s reckoning with Aboriginal women’s stories of domestic labour, APRON-SORROW / SOVEREIGN-TEA, in October with Tarnanthi/ the Art Gallery of South Australia.
The project also includes a series of other symposiums and curated labs, union and community work, and other activism/activities.
In 2022 we supported the development of three new works: The Read by Amrita Hepi with Tilly Lawless, Goddess Ball’s Fun House by amira.h. and Monte Masi, and Elegy of the Pale Lion by eDuard Helmbold and Motus Collective.
Alongside, we supported two major union events, May Day on Sunday 1 May, and the 150th anniversary of the Maritime Union of Australia, on Friday 19 August; co-organised a range of events with our collaborators Reset Arts and Culture, including Artists Organise!, and supported the freelance advocacy work of our 2022 artist-in-residence Jennifer Mills.
In 2023, we welcomed Kim Munro and Collaborators for The Art of Work is a Work of Art, an incubator residency documentary theatre project that explores the groundbreaking activist theatre work and legacy of the co-founders of Vitalstatistix. In development in 2023, the performance will premiere in 2024 as part of our 40th birthday celebrations.
Finally in 2023, we present Bodies of Work – A Symposium – three days of talks and discussion, activist training and art, exploring big questions, in collaboration with policy provocateurs, Reset Arts and Culture.
Articles/Media
Jennifer Mills: A Liveable Income Guarantee should support artists – and artists should support a UBI
Jennifer Mills: It’s Time… To Demand Fair Pay in the Arts
Jennifer Mills: For a National Cultural Policy that supports artists and writers as essential workers
Jennifer Mills: Sick Leave
Jennifer Mills: Art in the works: Vitalstatistix’s Adhocracy Program 2022