Strike Not Art
I want money for my work
If I was smart I wouldn't be an artist
Upper text: with my work, I damage the beauty and dignity of this institution. Lower text: the production of this work cost me HRK 1,023.59
Curator-artist relation is a class relation
All participants of this exhibition received a salary except the artists
2700 kn - artist's pension
An artist cannot have an occupational disease
Uninvited artist
57th Zagreb Salon of Visual Arts; HDLU, Zagreb; 2022.
The work consists of about 20 pieces of graffiti that I intervened with at different places in the gallery. I used stencils and red paint to print them on the walls.
With this work, I wanted to draw attention to the problematic and precarious conditions in which artists work, especially female artists, and the status of "self-employed artists", which should be mitigatory. Still, many things in the artist's life make it difficult - the artist cannot be employed, receive a salary, get a loan, his pension is below average, etc.
In addition, the social climate does not favor the practice of art by someone who is not financially secure, so it increasingly looks like an occupation for the privileged. This deprives the working class and women of the space for culture and creation and a platform where they could authentically talk about their experiences and socio-economic situation.
In the absence of wider social mobilization and awareness about these problems, I made this work with this goal - to at least clearly articulate our problems in our own spaces (spaces such as an art gallery).
The writing of graffiti throughout the exhibition and the appearance of messages in places where it is not expected warns of the context in which all artists are forced to work.