Women at Work — Crossroads, Rhythms, and Continuities
multichannel video installation and lecture performance, 2023—ongoing
Women at Work — Crossroads, Rhythms, and Continuities
multichannel video installation and lecture performance, 2023—ongoing
description
Women at Work — Crossroads, Rhythms, and Continuities is a living archive active since 2023, conceived as a long-term, continuously evolving artistic research project. The work takes the form of a cinematic multichannel video installation, activated through performative readings, delivered by the artists and complemented by a participatory space in which audiences are invited to leave traces, reflections, and responses to the questions articulated throughout the project. The project follows gestures of labor, everyday rhythms, strategies of adaptation, and forms of bodily resistance as they emerge across different social, cultural, and economic environments, without resorting to generalisation or representational synthesis. It centres on women and feminized bodies working in contexts where the body becomes the primary resource of income, examining how labor is inscribed, negotiated, and endured corporeally. In 2023, the first stories were filmed with women residing and working in Ciudad de Mexico, Bucharest, and their surroundings. In 2026, the archive will extended by working with a group of indigenous women from the Sacha Wasi community in Ecuador, and another group of women and feminized bodies from the complicated landscape of the Republic of Moldavia. Women at Work — Crossroads, Rhythms, and Continuities reflects on what it means to be a woman—the demands, expectations, desires, affections, and violence that women experience, as well as the communities, care, and bonds that we weave.
process
Global labor divisions and hierarchies are influenced by values centered on Western societies. Both Southeastern Europe and Latin America encompass Western and non-Western perspectives. But what do these perspectives mean beyond territorial boundaries? What are the implications for Romania, Mexico, and other countries from these regions? The artists involve the local community in identifying five women to collaborate with, ensuring a specific and authentic representation of diverse voices in their project. Women participating in the project are invited to join as co-authors of their own narratives, actively shaping how their work gestures and bodily presence are documented and articulated. The project does not seek to produce an exhaustive portrait of the cities or regions ir addresses. Instead, it operates through individual explorations, built gradually through a spider-web methodology: one woman leads to another, one story opens onto the next, and trust generates further connections. The voices gathered through this process are deeply personal, localised, and at times contradictory, and it is precisely through this specificity that the project resists generalisation, allowing complexity and difference to remain visible.
the interview
The two artists have designed a set of questions that aim to connect the experiences of the women they work with. They share these questions with the women they interview and develop more specific ones tailored to each woman’s work environment. The artists ask the women to spend up to four hours in their company—the time during which they film the interview and capture their bodies at work. The actions, gestures, and body image of the women at work are all aspects decided collectively, as a team. The filming itself takes place over approximately 3-4 hours per participant and includes both image and sound recording, a text-based interview, capturing the rhythms, textures, and acoustic environments of each workplace. Central to the methodology is the principle of reciprocity. Time spent together is not extractive; it is accompanied by exchanges such as shared meals, workshops, time spent with family, or other forms of mutual presence defined together with the participants. These exchanges are understood as integral to the research, not as ancillary activities. The development of these encounters depends on access to safe spaces for meeting, filming, and reflection, as well as on the flexibility to adapt to seasonal labor rhythms and personal circumstances.
the video screen installation
Whether TVs or projection, each screen contributes to a comprehensive image puzzle that collectively forms a complete picture. The installation adopts a performative and durational approach, narrating each story one at a time and creating a single image from multiple screens synchronized to run simultaneously. The subtitles are thoughtfully placed to follow the gaze of the audience, no matter where they choose to look. The set-up is relaxed, allowing people to enter and leave as they please.
the lecture performance
The exhibition is accompanied by a lecture-performance presented by the artists. This performative reading addresses notions of feminist economics and intersectionality, includes notes from personal experiences, and contextualizes the work, offering the audience the opportunity to enter the intimacy of the project. Introducing labor-related feminist concepts, the performative intervention is (self-)reflexive and (self-)critical—sometimes descriptive, other times featuring personal insertions. It brings into discussion, in a non-hierarchical manner, topics that are often either overly emphasized or approached without genuine, empathetic interest in public discourse. The two artists present this through a specific performative medium combined with applied research, inviting the audience into the intimate layers of the project.
participative area
One or multiple areas in the venue are designed to be participative, and the audience is invited to leave their traces while answering some of the questions the women in the installation are addressing. These areas should be simple and easy to interact with, such as a wall, a chalkboard, a paper on the floor, a table with post-it notes, etc. This space invites the audience to rethink the way they think about women’s bodies in relation to labour, but also to offer alternative perspectives complimentary to the ones exposed through the performative interviews exposed. The artists collect these traces and introduce them into their lecture performance.
CREDITS
created by Flor Firvida Martin, Simona Deaconescu
with Maria, Candelaria, Geta, Cassandra, Petra, Larisa, Elvira, America, Billie Rose, Nina, Gabi
curated by Alexandra Mihali
dramaturgy Ciprian Marinescu
directors of photography Rhizomes Films, Carmen Tofeni
video editor Ana Branea
project coordinators Alexandra Mihali, Andreea Andrei
technical director Alexandru Andrei, Juan Casacuberta
graphic design Sebastian Hogea, Dan Lancea
produced and distributed by Tangaj Collective Association
promotion Ilinza Urmuzache
hosted and supported by Ex Teresa Arte Actual, Galeria Gotxikoa
co-financed by The Romanian Cultural Institute through the Cantemir Programme
project partners /SAC@MALMAISON, HEI -House of European Institutes, Cultural Center of Spain CDMX, Ciudad Retoño / Cauce Ciudadano Foundation Mexico City, Romanian Association for the Promotion of Performing Arts, German Cultural Centre Timișoara, FAPT Festival, The National Center for Dance Bucharest
special thanks to all the women who shared their stories with the artists and everyone who supported the project: Alex Radu, Mircea Topoleanu, Cristian Pascariu, and the TicMar Emma Concept team in Slatina
previously part of “Readings of Female Corporalities” and is a co-production of the Romanian Association for the Promotion of Performing Arts (ARPAS) and the German Cultural Center Timișoara through the Timișoara Performing Arts Festival (FAPT) 2023. With the support of the National Centre for Dance in Bucharest and co-financed by the Administration of the National Cultural Fund (AFCN) of Romania.* Funded through the national cultural program “Timișoara – European Capital of Culture in the year 2023” and the Municipality of Timișoara through the Projects Center.
*The project does not necessarily represent the position of the National Cultural Fund Administration. AFCN is not responsible for the project’s content or how the project’s results may be used. These are entirely the responsibility of the project beneficiary.
The Romanian Cultural Institute cannot be held responsible for the content of this material.