The ABC Of The Projectariat Publication Launch

April 8, 2022
4:30pm – 6:00pm

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Exhibition Research Lab and City Lab in collaboration with the Whitworth presents the UK launch of The ABC of the projectariat: Living and working in a precarious art world by Kuba Szreder.

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The first of the new Whitworth Manuals publication series, The ABC of the projectariat contributes new thinking on, and practical responses to, the widespread problem of precarious labour in the field of contemporary art. It works as both a critical analysis and a practical handbook, speaking to and about the vast cohort of artistic freelancers worldwide.

In an accessible ABC format, the book strikes a unique balance between the practical and the theoretical: the analysis is backed up by lived experience, the arguments are rooted in concrete examples and there are suggestions for constructive action. Roughly half of the entries expose the structural underpinnings of projects and circulation, isolating traits such as opportunism, neoliberalism, inequality, fear and cynicism at the root of the condition of the projectariat. This discussion is paired with a practical account of different modes of action, such as art strikes, productive withdrawals, political struggles and better social time machines. Just as proletarians had nothing to lose but their chains, the projectarians have nothing to miss but their deadlines.

Szreder will present an overview of the publication, followed by a Q&A session with the audience from 5:00pm onwards.

Copies of the publication will be available to purchase, priced at £12.99.

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The Whitworth Manuals publication series is co-edited by John Byrne (City Lab) and Poppy Bowers (the Whitworth), and is published by the Whitworth and Manchester University Press.

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