Selected from a pool of applicants in the New York City area, the artists were hired for one week, from September 13th–20th, to complete their response to a TWO assignment. The artist/employees’ assignments, such as documenting a need for repairs, making a regional travel guide for a block or neighborhood, reinterpreting a newspaper photograph, or giving a concert for a houseplant, will be on view at the TWO office during the Dumbo Arts Festival from September 24th–26th, and on the TWO website thereafter.

The Work Office (TWO) is a collaborative, multidisciplinary art project disguised as an employment agency. Informed by the 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 that explore, document, and improve daily life in New York. From their temporary office at 45 Main Street in Brooklyn, >TWO’s administrators—Jerinic and Miller—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.

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 US culture that artists would be remunerated for their work in this way. TWO is a wry, contemporary realization of this model.

The TWO process requires artists to apply, interview, sign contracts, and work a full week to complete their assignment. Payday Parties are the culmination of the work week, where employees are paid for their labor and the public is invited to view the works and learn about the project. 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. They also provide a forum for TWO artists and the general public to interact and exchange ideas. All completed assignments will be on view throughout the Dumbo Arts Festival and on the project’s website: www.theworkoffice.com.

The curators at NNNY have a great website & blog where they’ve been posting images and interviews of the artists selected for the exhibition.
My interview, illustrated with a photo-essay can be read by clicking here.