—Eat and Shut Up?, 1993

Rubber gloves, cloths and framed polaroids of the cleaning staff at Círculo de Bellas Artes, Madrid (1993), at MARCO, Vigo (2016), at CA2M, Madrid (2017), and at MUAC, Mexico City (2019)

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Eat and Shut Up? was originally presented in 1993, for the exhibition Culture, Crisis, Culture at Círculo de Bellas Artes in Madrid. It consisted of several pairs of stuffed washing-up gloves that were placed on the handrails and mirrors of the institution and accompanied by a small polaroid of the art center cleaning staff, who at that time were all women. This project, later updated in the context of the show Draft for an Untitled Exhibition, was activated by the presence of cleaning staff at MARCO, CA2M and MUAC and brought in the present. Introducing a fold in the retrospective times of the exhibition, the project also enables the cleaners to make an appearance in the exhibition rooms outside the invisible time when they do their work. The passing of time reveals the introduction of other genders, however minimally, while at the same time testifies to the drastic reduction in the workforces.

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[Text by Manuel Segade]