QUIERO TRABAJAR
Quiero Trabajar, print & hand drawn ads, variable dimension, 2013.
“Ciprian Homorodean contributed a brilliant manifesto on what it means to be an artist as a worker. In the style of the flyers that can be found hanging on buildings, entryways and on lamp posts, Ciprian hand drew a series of 300 flyers offering his services in any of the jobs for which he is qualified: cleaning, computer repair, psychic readings, language teacher, delivery boy… and also, visual artist. With this piece, Ciprian places all of those jobs into a single sphere of necessity: making a living doesn’t make distinctions between more or less specialized or prestigious jobs. He situates less qualified jobs – like cleaning or handing out flyers – on the same level with intellectualized professions, like teaching or art. Because these services are offered by the same person, he highlights how all work, even the most prestigious jobs, have been placed on the same level, since workers use the same channels to access the market, especially if those workers are in the situation of disadvantage because they are foreigners. It also posits the artist as just another worker, someone who offers his or her labor in exchange for pay, and who does so based on the need to make a living off that work, given the lack of any other source of income; it strips away the glamour of the profession and certain of its stereotypes. Artists, just like any other workers – whether highly qualified or unqualified – are part of the same increasingly insecure working class. Furthermore, the piece reveals the great secret of the art world to the uninitiated spectator: very few artists make a living exclusively from their artistic work in the strictest sense.”
Pilar Cruz
Quiero Trabajar, video documentation, music & song by Olaf Hund & Ciprian Homorodean, 2013.