SOULS FOR LABOR

A market for workers, mothers, children and mistresses.

We are pleased to invite you to Souls for Labor, a market co-curated with foodculture days, which will inhabit the center of Atelier Gardens, a hub for cultural creators and change makers, also known as home of Berliner Union-Film Ateliers (BUFA), on May 8th, 2022, from 12-19h.

We know that capitalism still keeps our souls captive, a paycheck won’t save us from societal collapse, and owning a bank account doesn’t mean belonging to a real community. While on the one hand labor has been ingrained in mothering and in the principles of agriculture since its very inception, on the other, care, land enclosure and expropriation were preconditions both for commercialized agriculture and for a wage-dependent and disciplined proletariat.  

Under these premises, Souls for Labor market offers a shared space to reflect on food making, food sharing, maternal fantasies and care work as lenses through which to unveil the mechanisms underlying contemporary labor conditions and practices. Through food culture, handcrafts and post-consumption production, social nourishment spiced up by critical thoughts, ideas served on plates, solidarity shared through edible matter inseparable from fair working practices, Souls for Labor aims to cultivate seeds for community-driven economies in order to restore empathy in the so-called art world.

The market – already rehearsed in the summer of 2021 in the open area of Atelier Gardens – is conceived as a common ground which questions and expands the definition of the traditional exhibition format for pandemic times, encompassing a variety of projects beyond the field of street food and nutrition, to focus on exchanging goods, presenting initiatives, engaging with workshops, pollinating ideas and collecting solidarity and care as more than a survival tools. 

The market will host HOT(S)POTS as places for donating food and goods for people affected by the war, and a HOSPITALITY SPOT, where the participants will find food to devour and refreshments. 

Bring your best intention to engage, listen and savour, we are looking forward to welcoming you, your family, friends and lovers to celebrate the many collective ways to care and work together. 

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