2023

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Twelve-hour durational performance by Arantxa Araujo

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Shift is a project about immigrant labor, neuroscience, and transformation. The twelve-hour piece will feature Araujo shredding horseradish — a spicy, aromatic root that is highly irritating to the eyes and sinus membranes — as a demonstration of the grueling, repetitive motions and poor work environments experienced by many immigrant workers. The artist proposes to explore in this shift a ritualistic meditation informed by the actual sound of muscle contractions collected by electrodes on Araujo’s bicep, in other words, electricity. Through the passage of time, Araujo will allow labor/electricity/stress/fatigue to become audible as these sounds build up over time. Posing questions such as what effect have muscular contractions, aka repetitive movement and fatigue in our capacities for growth? Are conditions offered by employers safe and optimal to ensure wellbeing? What are some regulatory measures or practices that should be implemented to counter physical and mental stressors?

This project is inspired by two projects, the past project titled Linton:15pds/3hrs per week/$31.50, where Araujo presented the physical ravages experienced by low-wage, Immigrant kitchen workers over 3 hours in an Immigration Congress at CUNY in 2008; and the future project Cultivandonxs, a social practice project that focuses on well-being and sustainability by implementing creative practices that focus on economic justice to immigrant communities. Through Electromyography, Araujo will create awareness of what tends to be the invisible labor of our immigrant communities.