text commission

Dear █████████,

I hope you are well and that you are enjoying the summer. 

I am writing because I am still at work assembling a publication to communicate The Employee project, after the conclusion of the performance in October, 2021.

I would like to formally invite you to write a text about the work to include in this publication.

Briefly, I hope for you to write an art historical text, creating a genealogy for the work through other conceptual and institutional critical works that address the parergon of labour in art (Michael Asher, Ben Kinmont, Christopher d’Arcangelo, etc.), the artistic gesture of employing, or paying people to enact a delegated "performance" of labour, and the precarious, or immaterial form of my project. I am certain that you have the knowledge and expertise for this, and it would mean a lot to me to have your support. I am available to speak either on the phone or by zoom any time to go over details or questions you may have.

The text should be 5000 words (more or less), and I can offer a fee of 600$ CAD (approximately 450 €). We are hoping to receive a first draft around the first week of August, but we have some capacity to be flexible.

I am lucky to be working closely with Lauren Wetmore, the editor of the publication.

Other writers include Mariane Bourcheix-Laporte, who is placing the project within the history of Canadian artist-run culture and the increasingly neoliberal trajectory of arts funding and cultural work in Canada.

Here at this link is a more formal publication brief for you to look over. 

I would be overjoyed if you could contribute to the publication.