Katya Ev
(ekaterina vasilyeva)

Ne rien faire contre rémunération [Doing nothing for payment] is a new context-specific version of the performance Visitors of an Exhibition Space are Suggested to 'Do Nothing' (2021).

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The artist suggested to the public to sit in large comfortable chair and be paid for 'doing nothing' the local hourly minimum wage. Visitors first sign a contract that provides a legal frame to their commitment to ‘do nothing’. After ‘doing nothing’ they receive a proof of payment. All applicable taxes and social contributions are paid according to local laws and regulations.

 

The original idea of paying people for ‘doing nothing’ was born from a discussion with Azad Asifovich, Azerbadjan-born, Paris- based ‘curator-at-large’, in the beginning of March 2020. It was conceived as a reaction to the pervading pressure for extensive overproduction and efficiency in the art-world and beyond. The exceptional circumstances that followed with the general lockdown due to the Covid-19 pandemic made an uncanny echo to this project.

 

The contract was drafted together with legal expert Julie Van Elslande and cultural worker Jesse Van Winden within the framework of the research on ecologies of artistic practice entitled Caveat and conducted by the Brussels-based platform Jubilee.

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                          conceptual prism

                          how to understand 'doing nothing'

                          display campaign in public space "for rent"