LABOR LINES: THE WORK OF CONTEMPLATION
Chris Kaczmarek
Art in Odd Places Normal 2021
www.artinoddplaces.org
Saturday May 15, 10:30am - Until....
LOCATION
14th Street from Avenue C to the Hudson River.
Along the length of 14th street, 100 labyrinths are drawn in a single day. Through this action of endurance and repetition, this symbol of contemplation becomes conflated with acts of resolute production.
For the work Labor Lines: The Work of Contemplation, Kaczmarek drew 100 chalk labyrinths in a single day on the sidewalk along the 2-mile length of 14th street.
Specific form of labyrinth: seven circuit classic labyrinth.
The form of the labyrinth is often used as a structure for meditation and deliberation, giving the space and opportunity to pause and reflect. But through this act of endurance, the structure of the labyrinth is unwound into a singular line traversing Manhattan, and the symbols and practice of relaxed contemplation become conflated with ones of resolute production and labor. This creates tension between the “normal” idea of the labyrinth as a contemplative tool and the “normalized” ideas of internalized capitalism that result in obsessive labor/production. Contemplation itself has become labor, and the time to engage in this form of labor is reserved for the privileged.
Through a language of repetitive performative drawing, the structure of a limited time span, and the particular geographic setting, the forms and applications of the assembly line in service of production are brought to the foreground. To enhance this connection, the performance of the repetitive action was done while wearing a suit. Working on hands and knees, without stopping, on the busy sidewalk next to the noise and pollution from traffic, and amongst the pedestrian activity on the sidewalk, steady productivity and focus on the task was made the primary objective. Aspects of health and comfort, or even the questions of why and towards what goals the labor was undertaken, were made secondary. Rest and reason was not a part of the performance.
Taking cues from the performances of such artists as Pope.L and Mierle Laderman Ukeles, this work engaged with the public through the interaction of observation and discovery. While the artist was undertaking the performative drawing, the local audience was able to observe the direct physical implementation. There was also the “long tail” audience encountering the trail of labyrinths as it was being, and after it has been, developed. This audience encountered the evidence of the drawing action in the form of the chalk drawings on the sidewalk. Additionally, the pedestrian traffic along the route interacted and completed the work through actively erasing the line of labyrinths as it was being made. One could consider that by the time the end of the line was complete, that the start of it could have been already erased by a thousand footsteps. Both labor and contemplation made ephemeral by the overwhelming press of progress.