MTalks—Consortium 1—Art and Unwaged Labour • 20 Oct 2015

Consortium: A series of conversations within a series of talks—presented by a coalition of partners who support emerging and experimental art and design practices in Melbourne and beyond. This first Consortium of the 2015/16 season brought Next Wave, Gertrude Contemporary, West Space, RMIT Design Hub and MPavilion got together to consort on invisible hands. The panel—including artists Anastasia Klose, Lou Hubbard and Liang Luscombe, writer and artist Aurelia Guo, and writer and feminist Eva Birch—asks: What kinds of emotional, affective and otherwise-hidden forms of unwaged labour hold up the art industry? To whom is this work relegated? What’s the relation between caring and sharing, and working and performing? In other words, what are the professional and social obligations of artists? And how can one strike or resist these un-unionised forms of ‘invisible’ labour? Following the discussion, DJ and artist Lisa Lerkenfeldt will play a selection of music taking inspiration from notions of anachronism and lesser-known female music histories. Let us know what you think #MPavilion Image: Helen Hughes, ‘Watching Pickpocket’, 2015