Špela Trošt: This is not my work

This is not my work wants to demystify art as a gift from God.

By affirming the belief I do not work, I am an artist, the artist affirms the »freedom« and »autonomy« of work and renounces the economy of work. But despite the free and autonomous economic devaluation of his own work, or rather because of it, the artist is a slave and captive of the system. A system which, sometimes more openly, sometimes more covertly, perceives him at the same time as an idealized Exceptional Individual and a parasite.

»He who does not work, let him not eat!« breathed the Minister of the Economy, Zdravko Počivalšek, at a banquet after the National Awards for Culture at Cankarjev dom on 7^thFebruary 2018.

»The next time you are persuaded that Slovenian modern art is also color spots on a canvas or carrots in a vagina and an ass, know that they are not doing it because they are worried about our 'cultural lack of insight'. They do it because they want us to continue to fund it and fill their troughs,« wrote Minister of the Interior Aleš Hojs on Twitter on 30 August 2022. 

This is not my work, is the work of four ideal parasites, a complete mutual abuse and subjugation at the same time.

Let’s Work! (2022–2023) deals with the problem of work. It invites us, through various artistic situations set in specific environments, to reflect on the meaning and value of work, the ways in which we experience work in everyday life, and how art is at work. In the first chapter (2022), artworks are contextualized in locations that play a constructive role in society in terms of the formulation of labor policies, and more specifically the formulation of strategies in the field of cultural labor, in public services that respond to labor problems, in institutions that educate the upcoming workforce, and in spaces that play a role in contemporary art practices. The spatial and temporal positioning of works for (re)viewing by both institutional staff and invited and casual visitors aims to widen the field of visibility of the artwork and its reception. In the second chapter (2023), the artworks will be presented in their entirety in exhibition and performance formats.