Petra Bauer and SCOT-PEP
Workers!
2018
Video, color, sound,
38 min
September 10 – October 25, 2020
(Schaufenster am Hofgarten & online)
Petra Bauer considers film as a political and collective practice. In her research-based works, she addresses various forms of feminized labor and political self-organization, and their role in the construction and writing of history. The 2018 film Workers!, on view here, is a collaboration between the artist and SCOT-PEP, a Scottish sex-worker led organization that, amongst other things, advocates for the full decriminalisation of sex work. Current political and moral discussions on this topic tend to deprive the workers themselves of any agency over their profession and are not informed by the lived experiences of those involved. This film, through its collective approach in the production, manages to focus on complex questions about workers’ rights and dignity in the context of this industry.
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FURTHER MATERIAL
Workers! A Conversation between Petra Bauer, Gem, SCOT-PEP, Molly Smith, and Frances Stacey (Parse, Issue 9, Spring 2019)
Petra Bauer & SCOT-PEP: Workers! A Production Dossier
Production shots: Petra Bauer & SCOT-PEP, Workers!, 2018. Courtesy the artists and makers.