Kaldor Public Art Project 22: Santiago Sierra 2010

'7 forms measuring 600 x 60 x 60 cm constructed to be held horizontal to a wall'

20–28 November 2010

Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane

Project 22, titled '7 forms measuring 600 x 60 x 60 cm constructed to be held horizontal to a wall', created a new variation of Santiago Sierra’s most poetic and elemental work, unifying sculpture and performance to create a physical portrait of the labor economy. Hired for the minimum wage, the employees hold monolithic structures on their shoulders for the duration of a working day. They recall the caryatid or atlas figures whose sculpted forms stand as pillars to support the weight of classical architecture. Carrying casket-like forms on their shoulders, they represent what Sierra calls the ‘social burial’ of labor.