Excerpt from the book "This is a Work of Fiction."
We are looking for new hosts and volunteers to join our team and help out throughout the year with the exhibition programs, study meetings, annual Assembly, and other activities.
Tasks include:
- Getting a clear overview of all the tasks that need to be done during the festival week and the opening of the exhibition;
- "Interns as a whole are having a cultural moment: the intern appears on television and in gossip magazines; there are celebrity interns and luxury internships for sale.”
Opportunity Costs: The True Price of Internships by Madeleine Schwartz. 2013
- "Confronting the worst job market in decades, many college graduates who expected to land paid jobs are turning to unpaid internships to try to get a foot in an employer’s door. While unpaid post-college internships have long existed in the film and nonprofit worlds, they have recently spread to fashion houses, book and magazine publishers, marketing companies, public relations firms, art galleries, talent agencies — even to some law firms.”
Jobs Few, Grads Flock to Unpaid Internships by Steven Greenhouse. 2012
- Harvesting notes during next weekend on a large piece of paper, in permanent marker, try to gather all ideas of importance which pop-up during the conversation;
- Identifying a transport courier from London to Amsterdam and back for a 2,20m x 1,40m x 1,40m mattress, send and receive times unknown;
- Flyering;
- Googling 3 offers for food coloring in bright red must come in bottles of 500ml or more substantial, delivery time no longer than 3 days;
- Buying 8 plastic plates (in german Rigipsplatte), which can be found in any construction shop. "I need the ones in green (waterproof) just for the color and the big size, I think 2m X 0,6m, but they have standard sizes; 4 plates size small; 2 x 10kg white clay; 2 x any kind of metal Pole around 2m long. Like the ones u use in Theater maybe…"
- Finding a DJ: “We could offer him 100 Euros for the night.”
“But what're 100 Euros?”
“150?"
“No, that’s OK, he’s going to do it for free because he loves it.”
“I’m not sure I understand.”
“Well, he’s not really a DJ. He just DJ’s for fun so he’d just love to do it for the night. 100 Euros is nearly nothing, so there’s really no need to pay him for it.”
“What?”
“He’s her boyfriend.”
“Ooooh.”
- Being present and helpful for the artists;
- Wrapping large mirrors referencing queer topics in cellophane, cardboard, and paper,
- Carrying a bag of cabbage up a flight of 18th-century building stairs, covered in carpet;
- Cutting and slicing window film to size for 24 differently formatted exhibition room windows;
- Making chit-chat;
- Distributing posters;
- Lending out your duvet;
- Fetching lunch: 1 bottle yogurt, 1 cranberry juice, crackers, rye bread, hummus, brie, cereal, instant soup;
- Keeping in contact with the artists;
- Managing the rehearsal space;
- Completing tasks of the curatorial team;
- Text editing;
- Post sharing;
- Account tagging;
- Consider your history;
- She had a knack for the conceptual, so when they asked her to paint the exhibition rooms in all white, on top of a white layer which was smudged by fingers and palms laying in rest as the rest of the body was viewing performances, she jumped at the chance. She thought of Michael Asher. She thought of white cube galleries, walls torn down, her brush strokes covering the ground of the entire exhibition. A soft work’s touch, a caress, no title card, no number. Year: 2018. Materials: staightforward.
- Floor brushing;
- “‘Please may I mop?’ chirped her editorial assistant.“
Opportunity Costs: The True Price of Internships by Madeleine Schwartz. Dissent. 2013
- Floor protection taping;
- Interacting with a confused post delivery service which misplaced a large object in Rotterdam for 11 days;
- Losing your keys;
- Trashing your pants;
- “I’ve been in this business for more than 20 years now. I’ve seen it, I’ve seen it go down. I’ve seen my peers doing sex work. I’ve rented out my spare bedroom on AirBnb, I’ve seen them reject my fucking funding application”;
- Be available to jump into unexpected organizational tasks;
- “I'm pretty sure that the people applying are not doing it for the money, but to share thoughts, creative processes or speculating narratives”;
- Selling tickets, counting change, tying wristbands;
- Overseeing;
- Clapping;
- “Supporting existing initiatives, while also developing outreach programs, drawing in new perspectives, and making the context more inclusive to other voices, minds and bodies – those who are here and those who are not, yet.”
- Do what you love, love what you do;
- "One consequence of this isolation is the division that Do What You Love creates among workers, largely along class lines. Work becomes divided into two opposing classes: that which is lovable (creative, intellectual, socially prestigious) and that which is not (repetitive, unintellectual, undistinguished)."
In the Name of Love by Miya Tokumitsu. 2014
- "And it’s no coincidence that the industries that rely heavily on interns — fashion, media, and the arts — just happen to be the feminized ones, as Madeleine Schwartz wrote in Dissent. Women comprise the majority of the low-wage or unpaid workforce; as care workers, adjunct faculty, and unpaid interns, they outnumber men. What unites all of this work, whether performed by GEDs or PhDs, is the belief that wages shouldn’t be the primary motivation for doing it. Women are supposed to do work because they are natural nurturers and are eager to please; after all, they’ve been doing uncompensated child care, elder care, and housework since time immemorial. And talking money is unladylike anyway."
In the Name of Love by Miya Tokumitsu. 2014
Important qualifications:
- Flexible and curious;
- Proactive;
- Energetic;
- Creative;
- Enthusiastic;
- Highly motivated;
- With a positive attitude;
- Capable of both taking direction and working independently.
“Be honest: if your job didn’t exist, would anybody miss it? Have you ever wondered why not? Up to 40% of us secretly believe our jobs aren’t necessary. In other words: they are bullshit jobs.”
Front jacket of Bullhsit jobs by David Graeber. 2018
We offer a symbolic fee of €35,- per day as well as a creative and dynamic environment where the idea is exchange, share and grow.