«Artistas trabajando»

Activation of the artwork connected to the exhibition If it rains like this, let it pour! ​
Miquel Casablancas Award 2023 + SAC-FiC Residents 2022
Fridays 5, 12, 19 and 26 April and 3, 10 and 17 May
Exhibition Room on Floor 2

The exhibition space where Artistas trabajando* is located becomes a working space for the artist Ana Ayuso on a number of Fridays during the Art Centre’s opening hours, between 12.00 and 20.00, with a lunch break she takes in front of her computer. The (de)activation is a literal demonstration of what the artist did during the residency programme: occupy a space to work a number of days of the week and be absent many other days to continue working.

Some of the intentions of the intervention are the unlimited nature of work, in other words, to exhibit an artwork about work (which is work) and the fact of being (and not being) in order to be able to work; the impossibility of limiting the separation between life, art and work (even bread-and-butter work, in other words working to eat and survive); and, finally, the fictitious dichotomies that have real consequences, such as when one has time but no money (or peace of mind) to devote to art, as opposed to when one has money (and peace of mind) but can only work for others. 

The title of the activation is a nod to various references:
Artist at Work (2015) is the title of the book by Bojana Kunst about the work of artists.
Artist at Work (1978) is the title of a photographic series by Mladen Stilinović in which he appears sleeping.

* Note: in the title of this activity, Ayuso adds the ‘s’ to artistas as she feels that “it’s not just one but many of us who find ourselves in the same situation”.