SHORT PORTRAIT Factory for a (fem.) Century –
Zentrum für optimistische Bergbauforschung e.V.
Perspectives of (factory) workers are at the centre of the installation designed with participatory formats. Located in a former cotton mill in Leipzig, the art project takes up the context of the double transformation of the 1990s and builds a bridge to the present day. Experiences of loss and exclusion and the persistent invisibility of female (industrial) labour can contribute to turning away from society and encourage the development of anti-democratic attitudes. By making the lives of female workers visible, the associated issues are to be brought into the discourse on the future of gainful employment in a sustainable way.
‘Germany is characterised by its industrial history. Families have been linked to this cultural heritage for generations. However, reunification and globalisation have fundamentally changed the significance of traditional industries. For workers and their families, this is an existential, but also a biographical issue. Factory for an (fem.) century gives space to their stories from a female perspective and creates a counterweight to the academic discourses of the present’, says the jury.
3 Questions to… Luca Bublik, Conceptual Designer of Factory for a (fem.) Century – Zentrum für optimistische Bergbauforschung e.V.
The perspectives of female (factory) workers are at the centre of our participatory art project. Experiences of loss and exclusion and the continuing invisibility of female (industrial) labour in the context of the double transformation of the 1990s form the arc for us up to the present day. For our project, we are creating a temporary space for exchange and encounters on the site of the Leipzig cotton mill. For several months, former and current workers and artists will enter into joint working processes. By making the lifeworlds of female workers tangible and visible, the associated questions are to be introduced into the discourse on future and desirable forms of labour in a sustainable way.
The prize money from ‘The Power of Arts’ will enable us to develop the project and thus an artistic meeting place in the long term. Last but not least, it will enable us to productively shape a dialogue about working experiences in East Germany that is still not easy.
…that in this country and elsewhere our questions about gender-specific and transformation-related work experiences promote necessary processes of reflection, exchange and visualisation.
