The Laundry Collective
The Laundry Collective began at the end of 2019 as part of a three-month residency for women in social distress at INI Gallery in Prague. The work of the collective is inspired by feminism and the idea of art as a democratic space where all can express themselves and where experiences that otherwise remain isolated and differently visible/heard in society are equally grouped. Members of the collective write, draw or make films and together they problematize the stereotypical portrayal of people in social need. In 2022, they participated in the performance festival We Are All Emotional! and the Biennial in the Matter of Art. Their ambitious plan is the Mobile Laundries project, which aims to directly support people without a home. The collective collaborates with the tranzit.cz initiative.
The Yellow Is Black
2023,
HD video
The Laundry Collective is a group of women, some of whom have experienced life on the streets. They drive around Prague in a van and wash clothes for people who have nowhere to do their laundry. They also print and sell «manhole cover» T-shirts, make short films, give interviews, collaborate with various people, and do performances. They are the voice of women who haven’t been listened to and who have always been marginalized by society. They regularly get together – always with their dog Aranka – and just talk, eat, drink, and come up with different ideas and projects. The video The Yellow Is Black is the recording of one such meeting, which takes place in their «studio» and workspace – the van. The conversation revolves around the war in Ukraine, information and misinformation, what interests whom, and which sources can be trusted and which cannot. In the meantime, they stop at a potato field where they steal a few potatoes. And we don’t know where they’re going. (Tereza Stejskalová)
Augarten Contemporary, hoast, IG Architektur, Laurenz, Neuer Kunstverein Wien, Never At Home, Waffen Franz Kapfer, New Jörg, Ve.Sch
October 17–December 17
Main Exhibition
Curators: Serge Klymko, Hedwig Saxenhuber and Georg Schöllhammer
