"Ne travaillez jamais!" ("Never Work!") a reading and discussion workshop open to all! While waiting for the Printemps des Laboratoires #2 (May 2014) focusing on the subject of "art and work", we propose a reading group to exchange ideas and come to grips with what is at the core of this rich issue, through monthly sessions and a body of literature supported by other material – texts, objects, films, documents, etc. We could discuss, among other things, the choice that some artists make to orient their practice to immaterial work, processing information and inhabiting social networks. In our reflection we will also include the question of remuneration and what it means, examining the specific cases of artists’ unions, studying the role of the artist as belonging to a capitalist semi-feudal system or occupying an oppressed and marginalized position, and many roles in between.

"Ne travaillez jamais!" #1. Text: Dominique Château, Portrait de l’artiste en artiste ("Portrait of the artist as an artist"), article published in the journal “Figure de l’art n° 7 Artiste / Artisan” published by Publications de l’université de Pau. To open this new season of reading workshops, we propose the text by Dominique Chateau, Portrait of the artist as an artist, a philosopher’s response to the sociological work by Pierre-Michel Menger, Portrait de l’artiste en travailleur ("Portrait of the artist as a worker"). Through the lens of this response in the form of an article, we consider artists’ relationship to capitalism and its new ways of organising work, which require ever more flexibility and mobility. This will be the chance also to combine a sociological approach that views artistic work as a professional activity with an aesthetic approach that examines the creative act. Dominique Chateau’s article and Pierre-Michel Menger’s work are available at Les Laboratoires’s documentation centre. You do not have to read Menger’s work to understand Chateau’s article.
For inscription and texts: write to Clara Gensburger, at c.gensburger@leslaboratoires.org
(Thanks to Barthélémy Bette for suggesting the texts).

The first meeting takes place on Tuesday 15th October 2013, at 7pm, and every second Tuesday of the month from this on. For each session, one or two short texts (sent in advance to participants) will serve as a basis for discussion. This reading workshop is free and open to all: no specific knowledge is required, only the desire to read and participate to discussions. To receive the texts, contact by e-mail Clara Gensburger, at c.gensburger@leslaboratoires.org.