Exhibition 'WOMEN & WORK' - Mary Kelly with Margaret Harrison and Kay Hunt

THE GRAND
DOMESTIC REVOLUTION

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

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

'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

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

'WOMEN & WORK: A DOCUMENT ON THE DIVISION OF LABOUR IN INDUSTRY'

Mary Kelly with Margaret Harrison and Kay Hunt
1975
exhibition catalogue & scanned reproductions

An important historical reference for GDR’s collaborative modes of working, alliance-building and cross-disciplinary approach is the three-year project and 1975 exhibition, WOMEN & WORK: A DOCUMENT ON THE DIVISION OF LABOUR IN INDUSTRY by Margaret Harrison, Kay Hunt and Mary Kelly.

installation detail at Volksbuurt Museum

Making a sociological study of women’s work in a metal box factory in Bermondsey, the artists presented personal accounts of 150 working women in relation to changes in labour and industry through black and white photographs, typewritten texts and photocopied documents, such as punch cards and pay rates. The project records the gap in wages between men and women while also raising the issue of domestic labour, as many of the women spoke of the work they performed when they got home.

Developed through the artists’ involvement in the Women’s Workshop of the Artist’s Union, the project is an early example of a politicised form of Conceptual Art, delving into industrial and political matters from a feminist perspective.

detail

installation view with shadow play film and GDR Pad Puzzle

Locations: Volksbuurt Museum
Themes: Domestic Work

All photos by Emilio Moreno unless stated otherwise

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NOTES

TOWN MEETING JULY PHOTOS
Chinese keywords cooking workshops with Shenzhen based artist Xu Tan

20 July, 18.00-20.30h
Casco

Workshop 1: "Talk doesn't cook rice." (Chinese Proverb)
House Special by Chef Mingfang van Dillen-Wang, Chinese Muur, Hilversum