#touch sanitation

[reallyokayart]

Touch Sanitation by Mierle Ukeles, 1979-1980 "Ukeles spent eleven months from mid-1979 to 1980 creating Touch Sanitation, a public performance art work. She crisscrossed New York City ten times to reach all fifty-nine sanitation districts to face, shake hands with and thank every sanitation worker for “keeping New York City alive.” Quote and image via. Broken City Lab

[quietgrumblynoises-blog]

'Touch Sanitation'

'Touch Sanitation' was a project undertaken by artist Mierle Laderman Ukeles over the span of eleven months, although the entirety of the work ran from 1978 until 1984. (1) The social practise piece involved Ukeles shaking hands with approximately 8,500 people that worked in sanitation in New York, as a way of saying thank you to people she believed were terribly undervalued. “I’m not here to watch you, to study you, to analyze you, to judge you. I’m here to be with you: all the shifts, all the seasons, to walk out the whole City with you.” I face each worker, shake hands, and say: “Thank you for keeping NYC alive.” (2) Before this project, there had been never been such huge involvement in an artwork by a public service agency (3).

I feel as though this piece carries a very important message- in our constant push for progress, the people that carry out all the menial tasks in the lead up to the completion for something are often overlooked. In Ukele's words, 'The people who were taking care and keeping the wheels of society turning were mute' (4). By involving each one of these workers personally and taking care to record each and every one of their conversations, (5) Ukeles gave them a voice and brought validation  to their hard work. Rather than simply being a work to be viewed, 'Touch Sanitation' is a collaboration between artist and audience, in some ways an example of social practise art.

Ukeles strove to highlight and emphasize the worth of every person within the sanitation department. Her greeting via handshake worked effectively in countering the image of sanitation workers as dirty and not to be touched- after all, she focused on the those hurt by the inability of the public to draw distinction between those who create garbage and those who take it away. (3) I love the concept of this work- it revolves around the idea of stripping away cultural perceptions, in order to understand and appreciate each person and what they truly do for society.

(source)

References

(1) Krug, D, Green Museum article, Mierle Ukeles Flow City, posted in 2006, http://greenmuseum.org/c/aen/Issues/ukeles.php (2) Ukeles, M.L, Brooklyn Museum website (piece description), Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art: Feminist Art Base: Mierle Laderman Ukeles; Touch Sanitation, date posted unknown, https://www.brooklynmuseum.org/eascfa/feminist_art_base/gallery/mierle_laderman_ukeles.php?i=1111 (3) Unknown, Ronald Feldman Fine Arts Gallery (press release), Touch Sanitation Show, 2007, http://www.feldmangallery.com/pages/home_frame.html (4) Ryan, Bartholomew, 'Art in America' magazine, Manifesto for Maintenance: A Conversation With Mierle Laderman Ukeles - Interviews - Art in America, March 20th 2009, http://www.artinamericamagazine.com/news-features/interviews/draft-mierle-interview/ (5) Justin,?, Broken City Lab website, Touch Sanitation & Maintanence Art: the Work of Mierle Laderman Ukeles : Broken City Lab, February 18th 2011, http://www.brokencitylab.org/notes/touch-sanitation-maintenance-art-the-work-of-mierle-laderman-ukeles/

[momatalks]

Café as Learning Format, by Caroline Woolard continued...

2. Long-term Experiments

This learning space features an archive with works in MoMA’s collection and beyond that focus on reciprocity and one-to-one exchange. For example, if the Exchange Archive reference work called the Dream Machine allows anonymous individuals to exchange dreams, and OurGoods allows individuals to barter art skills and objects, how might these networks carry goods internationally? As Kate Rich, Feral Trade grocer asks, “What is the true load bearing capacity of our social networks?” The Feral Trade Courier takes the one-to-one transfer to a global scale, moving goods from hand to hand outside of commercial shipping.

For another example, with Milk Not Jails milk products are distributed only when farmers agree to a radical (as in, getting to the root of the issue) policy agenda: opposing prison expansion as an economic driver. If Mierle Laderman Ukeles’ worked to give sanitation workers recognition in Touch Sanitation, Milk Not Jails pushes for recognition of dairy farmers that goes beyond visibility, advocating for policy shifts to support their livelihood. Lastly, if Ben Kinmont seeks an ethical exchange between participants and artists in his work I Need You, BeeSpace looks to research the (im)possibiity of ethical exchange in interspecies collaboration.