Factory of Found Clothes, Utopian Unemployment Union, 2009
Factory of Found Clothes
Natalia Pershina / Olga Egorova

Utopian Unemployment Union

In 1995, Gluklya (Natalia Pershina, *1969, Russia) and Tsaplya (Olga Egorova, *1968, Russia) founded the artist duo Factory of Found Clothes in St. Petersburg. The team of artists is known for its performances and fashion happenings. They use their works as a means to artistically transform social problems. “Art is on the side of the weak,” says their manifesto, and “artists are not mentors but friends.” Both staged their final perfomance 2013 at the Moscow Museum of Modern Art. Gluklya is now working as a solo artist und Tsaplya works with the artists' group Chto delat? (What’s to be done?).

artists' websites: gluklya.com; chtodelat.org

This artistically ambitious utopia for the unemployed in Russia is based on ballerinas introducing boys to the art of ballet. In their first performance, entitled Utopian Unemployment Union, the roles are reversed and the boys dance the parts of the ballerinas. Exploring the potential for change in ossified structures is a typical characteristic of Factory of Found Clothes.

Courtesy Factory of Found Clothes

Document media
Video, colour, sound, 14:00 min

Issue date
2009

Tags
femininity, labour, laughter/humorous, masculinity