The Work Office (TWO) is a multidisciplinary art project disguised as an employment agency. Informed by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) of the Great Depression in the 1930s -- and made possible in part by chashama and a grant from the Black Rock Arts Foundation -- TWO is a gesture to “make work” for visual and performing artists, writers, and others by giving them simple, idea-based assignments that explore, document, and improve life in New York City.
From a temporary, publicly accessible storefront office, TWO's administrators will hire employees, exhibit work, and distribute Depression-era wages during weekly Payday Parties.
You are invited to submit your application online, be interviewed, and, once hired, choose one of TWO's assignments:
* Build a bridge
* Make a regional travel guide for your block or neighborhood
* Record an oral history
* Reinterpret a newspaper photograph
* Design a poster to promote something
* Make a mixed CD related to...
* Catalog existing WPA structures in New York
...and more!
You will have one week to complete your assignment, for which you will be paid $23.50 (now, before you sarcastically shout, "woo hoo!", know that $23.50 was the weekly wage for an artist in the Federal One Project, the arts division of the WPA). TWO will hold a Payday Party each Friday evening in July at the office. Employees will collect their wages and the public will be invited to view the week’s works and learn about the project.
Applications are being accepted on a rolling basis through July 9th. Visit www.theworkoffice.com for details and an application. Questions? Call 212-901-0659 or email to apply@theworkoffice.com.
