untitled (Something we Would Like to Give a Title to, but Constantly Fail to do so)

There are between forty and fifty medium-sized non-profit exhibition projects and smaller artist-run spaces in Prague. One of these institutions is the Fotograf association, known for its three projects (Fotograf Magazine, Fotograf Gallery and Fotograf Festival).

At present, the group responsible for the preparation and subsequent implementation of these projects consists of ten members. They are: Barbora Čápová, Jan Hladoník, Markéta Kinterová, Světlana Malinová, Pavel Matěj, Barbora Poláchová, Marie Rozmánková, Jakub Tulinger, Tereza Vacková, and Viktorie Vítů.

Over the past few months I have met with some of them and discussed working conditions in the non-profit sector and their personal motivations. On the basis of these statements, in this video I try to explore the causes of the frequent feeling of alienation among the workers in these exhibition spaces.

Firstly, I would like to focus on the material aspects of employment relationships at the Fotograf Association. Based on statements and analysis of several annual budgets, I have come to the conclusion that the Association cannot offer fully paid positions to its staff. This means that these people have to subsidize their living costs with other sources of income, either from another job or from rental income.

I know from my own experience that the Fotograf Association is not alone in this sensitive issue, and that the problem of proper remuneration for work in the non-profit sector is widespread in many other institutions. This suggests that this is not a failure of one organization, but a systemic problem.

Specifically, the state and local governments, such as regions and cities, allocate low financial resources to the most active segment of live visual culture in the Czech Republic. In return, they have access to a very rich cultural programme. Thanks to these modest subsidy programmes, the Czech bourgeoisie and the aspiring part of the lower social classes have a fully-fledged public space in which they can fulfill their needs for personal development and growth.

What are the benefits of this socially precarious situation for those who work for the Fotograf? What are their personal reasons?

Most of the workers joined the association for reasons other than financial gain.

Two main motivations emerge from the interviews.

In the first case, their motivations are based on their value systems and life preferences, as well as the possibility of influencing the final form of the association's projects.

Some of the jobs held by the respondents are managerial or white-collar in nature. Respondents could find similar positions in the corporate sector, with much better financial conditions. However, they would sacrifice the opportunity to actively cultivate the Czech public space. They would also find themselves in an environment known for its alienated, generic approach to interpersonal relations, which does not match their personal ideas of workplace communication. As a result, they are willing to forgo the prospect of a high salary offered by the "corporate" world, with its wide range of corporate perks and benefits, in favor of the undervalued, adrenaline-charged and socially insecure non-profit sector.

In the second case, there is the possibility of rapidly accumulating the necessary social and cultural capital. Through their participation in the association's various programmes, young cultural workers come into long-term contact with renowned artists of the older generation. This intergenerational exchange gradually integrates them into the Prague and, by extension, the Central European art scene. Fotograf serves as an introductory institution for them, enabling them to start their professional careers, with the transfer and accumulation of experience and knowledge taking place over a period of three to five years.

In addition to these key values, some of the association's staff mentioned confrontational situations that they repeatedly encountered with exhibitors. The main source of these misunderstandings was the artists' exaggerated demands on the association's team and dissatisfaction with the budget allocated for the realization of the exhibition. Their criticisms and complaints were not directed at specific artists, but referred very abstractly to several escalated situations.

From the context of the interviews, I understood that these conflicts were often hurtful and frequently led members of the association to question their decision to associate their professional careers with Fotograf.

From my own experience, the majority of workers in any exhibition institution will, after some time, find themselves in this uncomfortable situation.

In the following minutes, I will therefore examine this specific labor conflict through the prism of two Marxist concepts: concrete and abstract labor. On this basis, I will try to analyze the causes of these feelings of dissatisfaction and alienation.

The concept and perception of artistic labor in our liberal societies overlaps with Marx's definition of concrete labor. In Marxism, concrete labor refers to the actual production of an object, where an individual or a group of people give products their use-value. Only then do they decide whether to keep their products for their own needs or to exchange them on the market for other objects or a sum of money. Concrete labor is thus a time-space that exists outside the influence of the material and emotional consequences of the alienation of an individual's creative action by the market. Therefore, in our societies, concrete labor is valued through the prism of quality rather than quantity. A product is valued on the basis of its social utility (whether material or immaterial) and not on the basis of its exchange value.

Just like concrete labor, in our societies a work of art is not primarily created to exchange, but for its qualitative utility.

For these reasons, art is a socially important value-creating activity. It shows that in capitalist societies it is possible to engage in activities that allow individuals to express their individual needs and concerns, and that liberal societies are not fundamentally focused only on the exploitation of natural resources, human labor and the reproduction of capital. It shows that there is a social space for activities that are the opposite of such actions.

For instance. Selling a work of art is not just about alienating a product of human labor for a monetary equivalent. Through the act of purchase, the buyer publicly acknowledges the social significance of art. This transaction confirms that our liberal societies are cultured and civilized.

The role of exhibition spaces is to communicate this socially important action to the public. It is mainly for these reasons that most people become involved with these institutions. They expect a direct experience of artistic production and want to become direct witnesses to the creation of works of art.

Most cultural workers can be identified as PR specialists, producers, managers, accountants, editors, curators, etc. These professions can be categorized under the term abstract labor.

Karl Marx, in the first volume of Capital, describes abstract labor as an activity realized within the realm of exchange. It is alienable. In the market, its value is measured in terms of the quantity of successful commercial transactions aimed at the accumulation of capital. Consequently, abstract labor is related to the level of quantity, not quality.

It is the responsibility of these professionals to achieve the objectives to which the institutions they work for have committed themselves in their applications for funding. They ensure the smooth functioning of the Czech cultural industry. Their social task is the constant reproduction of the liberal concept of the value of a work of art and symbolic space, free from the direct influence of abstract labor.

Neither experts nor the general public are interested in the individual worlds or imaginations of these people. They are guided by the opening hours and the presentable installation of works of art.

This reality of life leads most cultural workers to an unpleasant disillusionment with the art world. This is probably the reason for the alienation of artists who are only trying to fulfill their mission as heralds of "concrete labor" and demand a respectable budget and presentation for their work.

Most people who perform 'abstract labor' in the non-profit sector resolve this dilemma by ending their employment relationship. The rest then focus on career development within their institution or on accumulating social and cultural capital to use in future jobs. These two life strategies then serve as sufficient compensation for occasional feelings of insecurity and exploitation.

translation: Viktorie Vítů