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 daily life in New York. From a temporary central office, TWO's administrators interview, register, and hire employees; assign, collect, and exhibit work; and distribute Depression-era wages to employees during weekly Payday Parties.
TWO’s administrators manage all aspects of the project, including oversight of the office and website. As the project’s lead artists, they perform the dull bureaucratic work that ensures that their employees make artwork.
Prospective employees submit an application online through TWO's website and choose one of our assignments (see "Apply" and "Work" pages for a complete list and examples). Hired 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 will hold Payday Parties on April 23rd, May 7th, and May 21st 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.
Assignments will also be on view during TWO's public office hours at 156 William Street, New York: April 23rd-June 3rd, Wednesdays and Thursdays from 4-8 pm and Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays from 12-6 pm.
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 contemporary realization of this model.
The Work Office (TWO) is made possible by Lower Manhattan Cultural Council’s Swing Space program; project space at 156 William Street is donated by Capstone Equities. Funding is provided by the Black Rock Arts Foundation and donations from the following generous individuals: LizN, Olga Jerinic, Stephen Roberts, Maia Bailey, Keith Collins, Mickey, Andrew Beccone, Maria Jerinic, Alexandra Lee, Scott Willis, Ingrid Burrington, Fletcher Kohlhausen, Gene Bahng, T.J., Lisa Levy, Arthur Eisenberg, Susan, James Verinis, George and Margaret Jerinic, Hank Willis Thomas, Cory, Ellie Balk, Maria Mack, Dan Hacker, Daniel Tepper, George and Betty Woodman, Vera Jerinic-Brodeur, Florence Clutch Hunter, Christina Olsson, Rachel Buchanan, Natalie Campbell, Elvira Clayton, Elizabeth Bernstein, Marguerite Borrie Miller, Joshua Ashenmiller, Tim Chapman, Ian Duncan, Nadia Kalman, Cameron Gainer, Verda Alexander, Jessica Lagunas, Perry Chen, Marina, Megan Rothstein.
The Work Office (TWO) will open again in the fall of 2010 with support from the Brooklyn Arts Council.
For information about future news and opportunities, please join our mailing list by writing us at mailinglist@theworkoffice.com.
