THE GRAND
DOMESTIC REVOLUTION

THE GRAND
DOMESTIC REVOLUTION

USER'S MANUAL

USER'S MANUAL

‘The Grand Domestic Revolution—User’s Manual’ (GDR) investigates the domestic space and its (changing) use through a variety of methods and disciplines, traversing the fields of art, design, architecture, urban planning, activism and theory. A number of artists and other practitioners contribute to this endeavour. Residents from 2009-2011 include Sepake Angiama, Paul Elliman, and Doris Denekamp who utilized neighbourhood and online research to create prototypes and interventions around the theme of (Green) Cooperativsm. Wietske Maas and Travis Meinolf experimented with Home Production; while 'interor' infrastuctural interventions for the furniture, library and hallways were created by ifau & Jesko Fezer, Mirjam Thomann and Graziela Kunsch. Current themes and residents from February–October 2011 include Kyohei Sakaguchi and Kateřina Šedá who will each investigate forms of usership in architectures; home and housing rights with Maria Pask and Nazima Kadir; the question of invisible and domestic labour taken up by Werker Magazine; Agency will continue its deliberations on copyright issues of domestic THINGS (gardens and textiles); and keywords in relations to food service work will be workshopped with Xu Tan. Parallel to this, the Read-in activity continues. Initiated by artist Annette Krauss and theatre maker, Read-in is an open reading group inhabiting a different neighbour’s home for every session.

LIBRARY

LIBRARY

The GDR library constitutes the backbone of our ongoing ‘living research’ and thus grows over time. The library offers points of engagement with the project and consists of different research materials such as books, articles, images and DVDs (artist’s video, films) that are available for viewing when visiting the apartment. The first installment was done by the GDR team and was later adapted by Sao Paulo-based artist Graziela Kunsch who suggested that the GDR team create thematic selections.

APARTMENT 18B

APARTMENT 18B

'The Grand Domestic Revolution-User's Manual' is a long-term project developed as Casco’s contribution to 'Utrecht Manifest: Biennial for Social Design'. The project deals with the evolutionary and collaborative process of “living” research in the contemporary domestic and private sphere – particularly in relation to the spatial imagining (or the built environment). It aims at re-articulating while exercising the notions of the social, the public and, eventually, the commons.

TOWN MEETINGS

TOWN MEETINGS has its genealogy in past regular GDR events from 2009–2010. These include Home Cinema, where the screening of films that touch upon different aspects of domesticity, neighbourhood organisation, urban planning and alternative politics, take place; Thursday Night Supper, occasions for cooking, eating and discussion with various guests, and the midterm manifestation GDR GOES ON which consisted of a series of events over four days in domestic, private, and public spaces in Utrecht.

IN AFFINITY

IN AFFINITY

Since August 2010, the GDR team have undertaken research in order to connect with the local neighbourhood on questions relating to peoples’ social conditions and material environments. Questionnaires, interviews, and conversations are the methods used to explore the themes and problems addressed in GDR, such as self-organised governance, co-operative living, and spatial organisation in and from the domestic sphere.

SEARCH

HOW DO WE WORK TOGETHER? (it’s not a rhetorical question)

TOWN MEETING MARCH
Saturday 26 March 2011 12.00-16.00h
GDR apartment, Bemuurde Weerd o.z.18b. With Matthijs de Bruijne, Phil Collins, Josien Pieterse, FNV Domestic Work campaigners and more

Still from Phil Collins, 'marxism today (prologue)' 2010

This month's TOWN MEETING starts with this concrete question, as a continuation of the last meeting on ways to critically engage with domestic and invisible labour. We ended it with a proposal to construct some kind of “artist working group” within a labour movement, but this immediately posed questions about artistic autonomy, the singularity of language and its attendant conflicts and more concretely, what aspect of the campaign will we work on? These questions will work in parallel with the urgent discussion on the rights for migrant domestic workers, looking into its implications within wider working and living conditions.

Presentations for the MARCH TOWN MEETING include artist Matthijs de Bruijne, graphic design studio Take A Detour, and film screening by visiting artist Phil Collins and filmmaker Josien Pieterse. Our guests, along with members of the FNV domestic worker's campaign and other interested actors, will expand on the ways artistic strategies of representation and can work in affinity with specific social movements.

AGENDA MARCH

  • Introductions, recap of February Town Meeting, and goal-setting
  • Presentation by Matthijs de Bruijne and Take a Detour on their collaboration for the project het afvalmuseum (trash museum) for the FNV Schoonmaker's anniversary of their strike at Utrecht Central Station
  • Screening of excerpt of 'marxism today (prologue)' by Phil Collins
  • Screening of by excerpt of 'The Years of the Truth' (De Jaren van de Waarheid) by Josien Pieterse
  • Question 1: What are potential artistic autonomies found in working “with” movements?
  • Question 2: What does the focus on domestic labour rights exclude and include in the debate and how does artist rights differ and connect, more specifically to labour rights?
  • Question 3: What artistic forms of representation of social movements are practiced, and can be imagined by artists and designers—can this point to new forms of contributions to political campaign?
  • Question 4: How will we work together?

The event is free and anyone is welcome to join!
RSVP is appreciated (email us at gdr@cascoprojects.org), but not required.

Links:
• Review of 'marxism today (prologue)' in the guardian
• Brochure download of FNV Bondegenoten Domestic Worker Rights

APRIL TOWN MEETING

30 APRIL 2011
Queen's Day! Participants of the meeting will join the street with ‘18B radio talk show’.

To receive more information about this and future TOWN MEETINGs, please email us at gdr@cascoprojects.org.

Related:

NOTES

THE FEMALE FACTOR
Working (Part-Time) in the 21st Century


UTRECHT, NETHERLANDS — Remco Vermaire is ambitious and, at 37, the youngest partner in his law firm. His banker clients expect him on call constantly — except on Fridays, when he looks after his two children.

Fourteen of the 33 lawyers in Mr. Vermaire’s firm work part time, as do many of their high-powered spouses. Some clients work part time, too.

“Working four days a week is now the rule rather than the exception among my friends,” said Mr. Vermaire, the first man in his firm to take a “daddy day” in 2006. Within a year, all the other male lawyers with small children had followed suit.

For reasons that blend tradition and modernity, three in four working Dutch women work part time. Female-dominated sectors like health and education operate almost entirely on job-sharing as even childless women and mothers of grown children trade income for time off. That has exacted an enduring price on women’s financial independence.

But in just a few years, part-time work has ceased being the prerogative of woman with little career ambition, and become a powerful tool to attract and retain talent — male and female — in a competitive Dutch labor market. READ FULL ARTICLE HERE

5 January 2011, 11.20 — posted by Casco


Edit