What is TWO?
The Work Office (TWO) is a multidisciplinary art project disguised as an employment agency. Informed by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) of the Great Depression in the 1930s, TWO is a gesture to "make work" for visual and performing artists, writers, and others by giving them simple, idea-based assignments to explore, document, or improve life in New York. From a central office, TWO's administrators will interview, register, and hire employees; assign, collect, and exhibit work; and distribute Depression-era wages to employees during weekly Payday Parties.
The Work Office (TWO) is a multidisciplinary art project disguised as an employment agency. Informed by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) of the Great Depression in the 1930s, TWO is a gesture to "make work" for visual and performing artists, writers, and others by giving them simple, idea-based assignments to explore, document, or improve life in New York. From a central office, TWO's administrators will interview, register, and hire employees; assign, collect, and exhibit work; and distribute Depression-era wages to employees during weekly Payday Parties.
TWO Process
TWO’s administrators will manage all aspects of the project, including oversight of the office and website. As the project’s lead artists, they will perform the dull bureaucratic work that ensures that their employees make artwork.
Prospective employees are invited to submit their application online, be interviewed, and, once hired, choose one of our assignments (see "Apply" and "Work" pages for a complete list and examples). Employees will have a week to turn in their assignment, for which they will be paid $23.50, the weekly wage for an artist in the Federal One Project (the arts division of the WPA)
TWO’s administrators will manage all aspects of the project, including oversight of the office and website. As the project’s lead artists, they will perform the dull bureaucratic work that ensures that their employees make artwork.
Prospective employees are invited to submit their application online, be interviewed, and, once hired, choose one of our assignments (see "Apply" and "Work" pages for a complete list and examples). Employees will have a week to turn in their assignment, for which they will be paid $23.50, the weekly wage for an artist in the Federal One Project (the arts division of the WPA)
TWO's Administrators
TWO Events
TWO will hold a Payday Party each Friday evening in July–the 10th, 17th, and 24th from 6-8 pm–at the office. Employees will collect their wages and the public will be invited to view the week’s works and learn about the project. The Payday Parties are inspired by the socializing that occurred between artists as they waited in line to collect their wages at their local WPA office.
TWO will hold public office hours at 112 West 44th St, New York, from July 3rd-26th, Wednesdays 4-8 pm, Thursdays 1-8 pm, Fridays 12-8 pm, Saturdays 12-8 pm, and Sundays 12-6 pm.
TWO will hold a Payday Party each Friday evening in July–the 10th, 17th, and 24th from 6-8 pm–at the office. Employees will collect their wages and the public will be invited to view the week’s works and learn about the project. The Payday Parties are inspired by the socializing that occurred between artists as they waited in line to collect their wages at their local WPA office.
TWO will hold public office hours at 112 West 44th St, New York, from July 3rd-26th, Wednesdays 4-8 pm, Thursdays 1-8 pm, Fridays 12-8 pm, Saturdays 12-8 pm, and Sundays 12-6 pm.
Why TWO?
TWO is based on the idea of "making work" (WPA terminology) for artists to "make work" (artist terminology). The project was born of an appreciation for the WPA and recurring comparisons in the news media between that era and today. With the current economic recession in mind, TWO revisits the approach the 1930s federal government took to alleviate the effects of the Depression on daily life. Artists were employed to make art–alongside infrastructure and other projects to rebuild the country–and were seen as a valuable labor force. Despite recent wistful references to the WPA, it seems implausible in contemporary U.S. culture that artists would be remunerated for their work in this way. TWO is a wry realization of this model.
TWO is based on the idea of "making work" (WPA terminology) for artists to "make work" (artist terminology). The project was born of an appreciation for the WPA and recurring comparisons in the news media between that era and today. With the current economic recession in mind, TWO revisits the approach the 1930s federal government took to alleviate the effects of the Depression on daily life. Artists were employed to make art–alongside infrastructure and other projects to rebuild the country–and were seen as a valuable labor force. Despite recent wistful references to the WPA, it seems implausible in contemporary U.S. culture that artists would be remunerated for their work in this way. TWO is a wry realization of this model.
Naomi Miller is a photography-based artist living and working in Brooklyn, NY. She received her BA in English and studio art at Clark University, Worcester, MA in 1996. In 2004 she graduated from the San Francisco Art Institute with an MFA in photography. Recent group exhibitions include the Creative Arts Workshop, New Haven, CT; WORKS/San Jose, San Jose, CA; Five Points Arthouse, San Francisco, CA; and Printed Matter, New York, NY. She is a regular contributor of text and images to the Satellite publication (a project of artist Jon Rubin). A blog about her self-designed residency—the Iron Maiden Tour & Residency, in which she visits friends around the country in order to make work—is accessible at http://naomiller.com.
The Work Office (TWO) is made possible in part by chashama and a grant from the Black Rock Arts Foundation. Additional support provided by Mike's Tech Shop, New York, NY and StoryCorps. Payday Parties are supported by generous donations from Chopin Vodka, Glenmorangie and Ardbeg Scotch Whisky and Greenpoint Wines.
Katarina Jerinic’s mixed media, photography and ephemeral participant-based installations center on invented explorations of urban space. She was a participant in the Bronx Museum’s Artist in the Marketplace program and has completed residencies at MacDowell Colony and the Experimental Television Center. She has an MFA from School of Visual Arts in Photography and Related Media (2002) and a BA from American University in American History (1995). Her work has been recently included in exhibitions at Rotunda Gallery, Brooklyn, NY; the Brooklyn Arts Council Gallery, Brooklyn, NY; the Bronx Museum of the Arts, Bronx, NY; the Fox Art Gallery, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA; Gallery Aferro, Newark, NJ; the Center for Book Arts, New York, NY; the DUMBO Art Under the Bridge Festival, Brooklyn, NY and Mills Gallery at Boston Center for the Arts, Boston, MA. She currently lives and works in Brooklyn, NY.
We've been busy at The Work Office (TWO) working on reopening our doors and employing more artists in 2010. This includes raising money to pay each of these hardworking artists $23.50 for a week's work. To allow you to donate easily, we've set-up a Kickstarter page (please click to visit our page and donate). Please be generous and donate today! Thanks for your support!
Recent press about The Work Office (TWO) employing artists in New York in July 2009:
The News Hour with Jim Lehrer Art Beat Blog (listen to the audio slide show, too!)
Dossier Journal
New York Magazine
Art We Love
