Work is a way to integrate my surroundings into my life.
Happiness is when I experience my life as part of my work.
Work is an escape from happiness.
Happiness is work.
Work is a way of life.
Happiness is when I include my family in my work.
Work is the time when I need to find happiness in my life.
Happiness is when I find life in my work.
Work is happiness.
Happiness is when I lose myself in my work.
Work is when I don’t find happiness.
Happiness is when I dream while I work.
Work is when I have to wake up from a surprise that brings happiness.
Happiness is when I find surprise in my work.
Genesis:
We submit Tomaž Grom’s idea to the Bunker Institute Work and Happiness call for proposals. We force him to formulate his thoughts. He takes a step back and writes down fourteen sentences, and in one of them he writes I dream.
He is not selected.
But the strongly personal rejection flatters. When he realizes that Loup Abramovici received the same rejection in his inbox, the flattery fades and the intensely personal evaporates. But Tomaž and Loup are together by chance again.
To Work! starts on its own. The meaning is created by Teja Reba and Špela Trošt.
Meanwhile Tomaž continues to dream. He dreams of selling a vinyl recording of his farts for €50. He dreams of selling his music. He dreams of selling his work. He dreams of selling his life. He dreams of selling himself.
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.
