JOURNEYFEMMES
a lecture by Olga Micińska
Modern industrialization of production structures removed the economies of making from the house environment to worksites and created some rigid, alienating labor divisions. Technologies ended up being categorized into the masculine and the feminine ones, into essential and decorative, into professional and leisurely - while in the past all sorts of crafts were collectively contributing to simply making a sustainable household. In result, a female worker today will be expected to maintain a house rather than help build it.
The Building Institute (TBI) is an experimental platform, which challenges such divisions of gendered disciplines. Operating between the fields of art and craft, TBI engages with various activities aiming to strengthen the position of femmes builders in the field of technical construction work, and explores various subjects related to labor and technology. This para-institution uses its interdisciplinary competences to establish a more inclusive take on technology, keeping woodwork as its main (but not only) focus.
Olga Micińska
Olga Micińska is a visual artist currently living in Amsterdam. A graduate of the MA Art Praxis programme at the Dutch Art Institute with an MFA diploma in Sculpture from the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw, Micińska also trained as a woodworker and collaborates with craft studios of various techniques. Initiator of The Building Institute, a non-formal organization engaging with diverse questions surrounding the subjects of labor and technology. Her work has been exhibited internationally, at the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw (PL), Polana Institute (PL), Museum of Warsaw (PL), puntWG (NL), Museum of History and Cultural Heritage of Lakatamia (CY), Marwan Amsterdam (NL), KS Room (AT), Thkio Ppalies (CY), Austrian Cultural Forum in Warsaw (PL), Starter Gallery (PL), CoMbO (SP) among others.