Courtesy of the Artist

Performance with son, dried raw wheat, wood, rotating platform, frequency controller, 170 cm x 170 cm

In the durational performance Courtesy of the Artist, my ten-year-old son sits on a slowly rotating platform, surrounded by a mound of raw ears of grain. He separates the wheat from the chaff. When the performance ends, the platform is left empty, like a nest after the bird has gone, still turning.  Afterwards, I grind the grain into flour and bake bread, which we eat together. The wheat refers to fertility and growth, but also to labour and the need to make a living. The work unfolds through simple actions: separating, grinding, baking, eating. These actions move between care, work and survival.

Courtesy of the Artist asks: What is the value of care? Who says so? What truly holds value? Where does the artwork end and where does life begin?

Roos van Geffen: “So this work comes from a friction I cannot resolve: I make art, and I care for a child. I am expected to do both, but not at the same time. The most valuable thing I have ever made, my child, has no place within the value system of the art world. At the same time, leaving him at home is called neglect, and bringing him into a professional context is seen as unprofessional. This work comes out of that deadlock.”

Care is not a theme in this work. It is happening in real time: through the body, in repetition, through attention, in the presence of the audience. It is about labour that remains invisible. About time that is not counted in a system that depends on care, but does not value it. By placing these actions in a performative context, that tension becomes visible.

Artist Marina Abramović once said: “There’s plenty of talented women. Why do men take over the important positions? It’s simple. Love, family, children, a woman doesn’t want to sacrifice all of that.” Courtesy of the Artist is an answer to what Marina said, and separating the wheat from the chaff is a critical reference to her performance Counting the Rice.