Cooking, Cleaning, Caring

The first survey volume to provide a historical perspective and analysis of artistic involvement in care work on a global scale, spanning from the 1960s to the present day.

Since the 1960s, artists such as Margaret Raspé, Gabriele Voss, Tomaso Binga, Anna Daučíková, Hackney Flashers, Mako Idemitsu, Ana Victoria Jiménez, Mary Sibande and Jinran Ha have been critically examining care work on a global scale. In their art works, they address the physical strains of daily work, deconstruct the myths surrounding 'labour of love', demonstrate the conditions that structurally marginalize care workers and make visible the mechanisms by which cooking, cleaning and caring is still devalued today. With this in mind, they came up with new artistic practices in order to meet the complexities of care work in a globalized world as well as to reflect on their own role as artists and care workers.

The bilingual catalog is the first overview publication on care work in art. It accompanies the exhibition of the same name, a joint project between a DFG research group at the Ruhr University Bochum and the Josef Albers Museum Quadrat Bottrop. In addition to rich visual material, the catalog contains the results of the research project as well as contributions from international experts, including Maria Bremer, Karen Cordero Reiman, Ane Lekuona Mariscal, zethu matebeni and Wiktoria Szczupacka.