Tobias Ertl, in an article titled «The Abstract Labor of Art,» presents ten theses on the logic of artistic labor and its distinction from labor in capitalism. He begins his article with a quote from Adorno, who says that artists essentially produce things “that they do not know what they are.” Based on Adorno, this type of labor is a utopian form; meaning that artistic work creates a relationship with the world that goes beyond any current understanding of it. Ertl compares this view with Marx’s perspective on labor and surplus value, noting that according to Marx, this type of work is considered “abstract labor.”

Adorno considers the absolute unawareness of the artist and the tension between the artistic work and production as a utopian form, and Ertl, in linking the ideas of Adorno and Marx, views artistic work as a form of rationality that becomes liberated and differs from the rational and unconscious system of work in capitalism, where the unawareness of its nature indicates a lack of freedom. Ertl states that if the artist can work within the dynamics of social productive forces without considering the goal of capital accumulation, their work embodies a utopian form.

The current exhibition, by bringing together works of Iranian artists from several different generations, attempts to focus on this aspect of artistic work, or as mentioned, “abstract labor.” Artistic labor, while connected to the nature and content of the work they have created, is distanced from it, and this distance, which provides an opportunity for a historical-social reading of them, is the subject of this exhibition.

Shirin Gharavisky

Ertl, Tobias. «The Abstract Labor of Art” in “No. 6 Duty Rules Work Wage”. 2024: For. Basel, Switzerland

Group Exhibition: Fereydoun Ave, Reza Abedini, Nasser Bakhshi, Omid Bonakdar, Leili Matin Daftari, Ardeshir Mohasses, Koorosh Shishegaran, Mojtaba Tabatabaie, Ramtin Zad, Bijan Saffari, Hamidreza Farahnaki, Neda Ghayouri, Parinaz Goodarzian, Yasaman Khaleghi, Jalal Mashhadi Fard, Sepehr Mesri, Shadi Salimi, Paniz Sohrabi, Tooraj Nabiee