This issue explores several aspects of art as work. As a collective work of many, often invisible labourers. As a work generally carried out under conditions of great precarity and in which physical risks are often overlooked. As a work which often goes unpaid under the pretext that the practitioners are driven by passion. And indeed, what helps them to continue despite everything is enthusiasm: most artists have chosen their career. On the other hand, poor conditions are a reality, and collective action and struggle is difficult. It is hindered by the often precarious nature of the work and sometimes by the illusion that the finished product, the final “work of art”, erases the material reality of the labour that created it. Now and then, however, a collective momentum joyfully shakes up the order of things – as you will read in this issue.
https://www.etui.org/topics/health-safety-working-conditions/hesamag/the-real-work-of-ar