It is hardly a novelty that the work relations that have crystallized between individuals reflect a given society's culture, history, and values, as well as the structures of ex­change between them. From the beginnings of the industrial period to our own day, people's basic field of activity of has been given its meaning by what is conceived of as work, regarded as the vector of, and the condition for, the fundamental transformations of collective and social life – of becoming "other." Work is thus at the center of social life, its fetish. Does it also constitute the precondition for any well-functioning society? Which cognitive spheres bring out, for each individual, the problems of authentic existence, feeling, and activity in society? What price does the individual pay, in the currency of emotional ties, in exchange for becoming a part of an integral community, which offers her the reciprocity and support without which she is incapable of con­structing the mechanisms on which her self-assurance is based? Is it not imperative constantly to reassess the ethical standards of human existence? Are the incompre­hensible mechanisms that transgress those standards not the source of social injustices, and do they not make it impossible to foresee the general crises responsible for the physical, juridical, and moral disintegration of society?

The dislocations characteristic of the "great transformations" and "great crises" that have become the overriding present of our daily lives make it difficult to under­stand how to organize and analyze the dichotomous dispositives of labor and capital or economy and politics. The fact of the matter is that what man himself has produced dominates him. In other words, his libido is wholly invested in work. What can we learn by examining these questions as they appear in the world of "non-commercial" art? Although art, by its nature, is not a profit-seeking activity, it nevertheless constitutes part of the market, even if its principle commodity value resides precisely in the fact that it is not commercial. This circumstance imposes constraints on the artist's freedom of expression, but also offers, perhaps, the critical attitude or ratio required to transgress it. Questions of critical attitude aside, what is art's place in society and who, in the final analysis, is the artist? The artist's work or, more often, creation is considered to be non-alienated labor, that is, subjectivity, a self-producing phenomenon. "Ordinary" work, on the other hand, is considered to be a means of earning a livelihood, the condition for survival. When we say "mechanism of self-assurance," are we not talking about art, albeit indirectly? How far can art accompany the individual in the activity of producing herself as an exceptional subject who cannot be reduced to the norms applicable to work, that is, to the one function that determines the individual's place in society? Is it possible to discover and think, by means of art or artistic practice, the general emancipation of a society based on wage-labor?

Under the title provided by the Armenian saying "Bread and Cheese, Eat and Work," we wish to elaborate a long-term project in which research, colloquia, and advanced individual scholarship will be focused on interrogating the concept of Work. Relevant issues include Art's place in society; aesthetic and socio-economic/political values; Work and gender issues; Work and Utopias of stable development, and so on. The list of overarching themes will be extended in accordance with the suggestions of project participants. This approach to the question will help us understand the mechanisms that sustain the Imaginary of any society whatsoever. The central task is an in-depth examination, with the field of art serving a platform, of the concept of work. Those interested in participating in the project or in submitting suggestions are invited to apply before June 10, 2010 to the project director, Anna Barseghian This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it