Eccentric Labour: The Work of Remedios Varo and Mika Rottenberg

A bell rings. A pulley winds transparent thread. Women in closet-sized rooms drip sweat, sniff flowers, and pedal contraptions. Silvery filaments and clotheslines carry pieces of chewing gum, crystals, and plants across space, time, and through wallpaper. This is the work of Remedios Varo and Mika Rottenberg. This is industrial manufacturing made absurd where purposely concealed connections fuel a global engine, barely separating agency from exploitation. In contrast to the very idea of globalisation and its effects, Varo and Rottenberg use small interior spaces — equally confining and protective — to highlight the often-ambiguous relationship between women’s labor, production, and consumption, making visible the commodification of goods and self. Central to this endeavor is a literal thread joining the beginning and end of cycles, machines, and (female) bodies to a mysterious cosmic order. Their work mirrors the craziness of real life — global commerce and its irrational logic, gender inequality, and supply chain mysteries — but with a focus on the female laboring body and the operations behind manufacturing. And, by doing so, Varo and Rottenberg reverse the command of capitalism where merchandise and service, not people, reign supreme. In their work products still get made (using alchemical-feminist processes) but who knows why or where they end up. <a href="https://medium.com/@jasminereimer/eccentric-labour-the-work-of-remedios-varo-and-mika-rottenberg-5380a384dea3">Read More</a>