UNREALISED PROPOSAL – We’ve sent in a submission on the occasion of the Theodora Niemeijer Prize, which could’ve been on display at Van Abbemuseum in a space called ‘het oog’ (the eye).
In 2015 approximately 16.500 people in Eindhoven were unemployed. They are supposed to apply for a job, get the job and work hard, but what does that really mean? Building houses and constructing cars? Managing a team? Working on a assembly line? Founding a company? Whatever it is, amusement and relaxation are certainly not included.
We proposed a work period where a changing group of jobseekers would get paid to fill the floor of Van Abbemuseum’s The Eye with puzzles. These would be donated by the public, second hand stores and the workers themselves. These puzzles would includes photographic images, whereby The Eye could turn into a landscape of visual references.
The process would question the position of labour in our society. What is asked from us and how should we react? Are we only doing our job because we are getting paid for it? How does this relate to caretaking for a family and spending free time together? Can we broaden the definition of work?