Set within a reclaimed industrial building on the grounds of MASS MoCA, Bureau for Open Culture presents I Am Searching for Field Character, a series of public conversations, performances, installations, and workshops with a slew of artists, writers, designers and thinkers visiting North Adams, Massachusetts, over the course of the summer.
The exhibition examines the cultural laborer, today with an emphasis on their precarious economic existence. Organized in association with the MASS MoCA exhibition The Workers, I Am Searching for Field Character explores the economic and social character of the cultural laborer—from artists and writers to beekeepers and distillers—who collectively contribute to the lifestyle of a region. It examines this workforce within the context of a post-industrial city that has transformed economically from a site of major manufacturing industry to a locus for culture and experience. And that examination conflates and purposely obscures notions of labor and touristic service industries, all transpiring inside architecture built originally for the production of goods and materials. Part exhibition, part performance, part studio, part unexpected—I Am Searching for Field Character locates and shapes a portrait of the cultural worker today with an emphasis on their precarious economic existence.”
The exhibition examines the cultural laborer, today with an emphasis on their precarious economic existence. Organized in association with the MASS MoCA exhibition The Workers, I Am Searching for Field Character explores the economic and social character of the cultural laborer—from artists and writers to beekeepers and distillers—who collectively contribute to the lifestyle of a region. It examines this workforce within the context of a post-industrial city that has transformed economically from a site of major manufacturing industry to a locus for culture and experience. And that examination conflates and purposely obscures notions of labor and touristic service industries, all transpiring inside architecture built originally for the production of goods and materials. Part exhibition, part performance, part studio, part unexpected—I Am Searching for Field Character locates and shapes a portrait of the cultural worker today with an emphasis on their precarious economic existence.”