Join us for this public program in conjunction with Workers’ Studio: El Co-op in the Community Partnership Gallery on Sunday, November 23rd from 1-3pm.

Program:

1–3pm: Reading with Claudia Prado & Apple-Eco Cleaning Co-op Members
Apple-Eco Cleaning Co-op members who participated in creative writing exercises will speak on their experiences and share stories that emphasize empowerment and co-op development. Sessions were instructed by poet Claudia Prado.

Readings will be in Spanish.

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The Workers’ Studio: El Co-op is a series of collaborative art projects that use art as a tool for worker-led organizing. The Workers’ Studio is nomadic, and functions mostly in Day Laborers’ Worker Centers as a weekly encounter facilitated by the artist Sol Aramendi. Workers use the studio to create art projects that support their organizing and advocacy. This exhibition features a series of photographs, writing and works created by the participants. 

As a platform, Workers’ Studio collaborates with immigrant women that cooperate, forming a growing framework and network for workers. A co-op is a business that is fully operated by and for the benefit of its members. El Co-op Mobile, the center point of this exhibition, is a versatile pop-up information stand that encourages visitors to learn about collaborative values and model their own co-op for work and everyday activities. 

This show will reflect works produced in the last year of the Workers Studio’s engagement. Participants include domestic workers co-ops Love & Learn Childcare Cooperative, Apple Eco Cleaning, Brightly Port Richmond Cleaning Cooperative, and Mirror Beauty Cooperative, the first trans-led cooperative that participated in these empowering development sessions. Works by community groups Adhikaar, Lunicorns, and Mujeres en Movimiento will also be on display. 

Workers’ Studio: El Co-op is an exhibition by the artist Sol Aramendi. Encouraging new immigrants to lead through art, Aramendi works on socially engaged art collaborations that are part of an evolving social sculpture integrating labor, immigration and art. Sixteen years ago, she moved from Argentina to the United States and founded Project Luz.

This exhibition is supported, in part, by the Foundation for Contemporary Arts Emergency Grant, the Open Society Foundation, and with generous support from the Ford Foundation. Prints are a courtesy of  Brooklyn Industries and Silver Imaging. 

The Community Partnership Exhibition Program at the Queens Museum provides opportunities for cultural and other nonprofit organizational partners to develop and mount short-term exhibitions based on their programs and our collaborative projects.