The ways in which we work cut across intersections of all parts of identity, individual and community well-being and social and political power. We face increasingly complex local and global economies, war, environmental disasters and their resulting human migrations, alongside increasing concentrations of wealth and weakened worker protections. How, as artists and cultural producers, do we address the multiplicities of factors that impact our own survival? To what extent do contemporary technologies shape our work experiences? How are artists activating contemporary dialogues around labor history, interdependence, interconnectivity and communalism? The artworld has many historic examples of protests against unfair wages and unfair institutional representation that impact artist survival, including Art Workers Coalition, United Black Artists, Guerrilla Girls, Artists of Color Organization, the New York Artists Strike, Gran Fury and Act Up. More recent examples include W.A.G.E., Arts and Labor working group, Occupy Museums, MoMA Union Workers and protests demanding MoMA, the Whitney Museum and other large museums divest from the Prison Industry, Weapons Manufacturing and Big Pharma. What is the future of institutional critique and direct social action, and what can we glean from revisiting past Art and Labor movements?

 

The Tool Book Project is seeking submissions for its third publication: Work Book. Work Book will be a risograph magazine featuring art and writing that responds to contemporary labor issues. Work Book seeks artwork and writing that address the labor of art, art production and artworld workers, as well as art and writing that broadly considers labor, leisure and its cultural intersections. Topics may include but are not limited to: prison labor, postwork imaginaries, cultural workers, invisible labor and emotional labor in light of gender, race, ethnicity, sexuality and masculine/feminine spectrums, museum labor, institutional labor practices, exchange and gift economies, manual labor, collective work and living, financial precarity, retirement and aging, ableism and mental health in art, academic and other work worlds, marxism, techno-labor, unpaid domestic labor, performing leisure, labor and land, environmental collapse and the economy, de-colonialist action, and the labor of craft and studio practice. We are especially interested in projects that examine and re-center the histories and contemporary labor/leisure from a feminist perspective that addresses the intersectional and transnational complexity of race, ethnicity, gender, class, age, body size, disability, transgender and non-binary experience and sexual orientation.

 

The Tool Book Project is a semi-annual publication that showcases art, writing, dialogue and critical discourse from an international group of artists and cultural producers. Tool Book is also a platform for sharing resources via curated gallery shows, readings, roundtable discussions, and other public events. Sales from each publication are donated to specific social and environmental justice organizations, providing a mode of direct action for artists and writers to exchange ideas and affect positive social change.

 

Deadline: July 5, 2019 by 11:59pm

Editing will begin soon and earlier submissions are encouraged

​

Submission Requirements:

-CV

-Artist Bio (150 Words)

-Project Description or Writing Abstract (350 Words)

-5 Images and/or 3 time-based media clips (see details below)

-OR-

-Essay, Fiction, or Poetry up to 2,500 words (see details below

​

Project Description: This can be a project statement for the artwork you are submitting or an abstract for written submissions. Your statement should address how your submission reflects the themes of Work Book and may also discuss how your submission relates to your larger practice.

 

Artwork requirements: We seek works of art that can be reproduced via Risograph. If your work is chosen for publication we will work with you to prepare files. There will be a companion web page where time-based media can be viewed. If you are applying with audio, video, AR, VR we suggest including video or film stills, screenshots, audio transcripts or scores and/or text about the project.

 

Each applicant may submit up to five images and/or up to three video or audio clips, 5 minutes max each.

 

Image requirements:

-Up to 5 images

-Files should be labeled Lastname-firstname-number.jpeg (i.e. Ono-Yoko-1.jpeg)

-No larger than 1MB (HIgher res images may be required for publication.)

-Files should be .jpegs, .png or pdf

-Descriptions should include Title, Year, Dimensions, Medium

 

Video/Audio requirements:

-Up to three clips.

-No more than 5 minutes in length.

-Must be shared via weblink (SoundCloud, Vimeo, YouTube, etc.)

-Descriptions should include: Title, Year, Media, Length

​

Writing requirements:

Work Book is interested in publishing long form critical and analytical essays, fiction and poetry up to 2,500 words. Materials should be submitted as MS-Word (.doc, .docx) or PDF.

 

Formatting requirements:

-Use single line spacing, 12-point Times font, headings and subheadings should be boldfaced.

-Please use guidelines published by the Modern Language Association (MLA).

-Images (72 dpi, minimum, 1000 px wide) should be placed within the text at the appropriate points not at the end of the article. Credit images with author, copyright, title, and caption information when necessary. Please do not include more than a total of 6 images with your submission. If your text uses images not created by the author, include publication permissions from the original creator with your submission. Where available, include URLs for the references.