Occupy as Form: Julia Bryan-Wilson
I am currently working on a research project involving what I have termed “occupational realism,” in which artists perform labor – or more specifically, go about their normal jobs—under the rubric of art. This phrase resonates not only within long-standing debates about art in everyday life, but also evokes questions of value, embodiment, and “realism” as an art historical and economic strategy. Though I began this project well before the Occupy movement, with an article in Artforum about British artist Carey Young, the lexical overlap has prompted me to think further about what it means to be “occupied” by one’s work (emotionally, physically, mentally), or to “occupy” the space of labor as a self-conscious artistic operation.
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