Kunsthaus Graz

This exhibition is a hard piece of work

Artist Selma Selman at work - her installation is part of the show in Graz.(Bild: Courtesy Selma Selman & acb gallery, Foto: Tibor Varga Somogyi)

In its new exhibition "24/7", the Kunsthaus Graz sheds light on the complex topic of work. The show comprises 30 exciting works and can be seen until January 2025.

32 hours a week or 41? The debate about standard working hours is currently raging again. So it's time to take an artistic look at the complex field of "Work between the creation of meaning and the dissolution of boundaries", as the exhibition at Kunsthaus Graz is subtitled.

Consumption and work
Curator Katia Huemer sums up the great dilemma of the contemporary world of work as follows: "If it is possible to consume around the clock, then it is also necessary to work around the clock." But who is actually working? Under what conditions? And for what pay?

Martin Grabner (curatorial assistant), Andreja Hribernik (director of Kunsthaus Graz) and Katia Huemer (curator) in the exhibition "24/7. Work between the creation of meaning and the dissolution of boundaries" at Kunsthaus Graz (from left)(Bild: Kunsthaus Graz/J.J. Kucek)

These and many other questions are raised by the 30 works of art in the "24/7" show: Oliver Walker, for example, has put together six films for his contribution to an installation - they all show people at work and last exactly as long as it takes these people to earn one euro. While the shortest of the films lasts just one second, the longest has a running time of one hour.

Working world without people?
In his picture "Amazon", Andreas Gursky stages the online giant's world of goods as an imposing excess of consumption, while Louisa Clement has placed an AI-powered "representative" of herself in front of it, raising the question of which parts of the working world will manage without people in the future.

Louisa Clement's "Representative" in front of Andreas Gursky's "Amazon".(Bild: Kunsthaus Graz/J.J. Kucek © Bildrecht, Wien 2024)

The works look at the world of work from many different angles and are not sparing in their criticism of their own profession (keyword: self-exploitation). The show is on display until January 19 and is the perfect complement to the "Alles Arbeit" exhibition at the Museum of History.