Wednesday, July 15, 2026

6:00 – 8:30 PM

How to Organise … and Unionise?!

How to Organise … and Unionise?! is a slow moving reading group beginning this summer and running into autumn, organised by Varia and hosted at three venues in Rotterdam: A Tale of A Tub, Extra Practice and KIOSK, with a final gathering in Utrecht with Four Siblings.

Our book is Work: Invisible Labour and the Legacy of Yugoslav Socialism by Katja Praznik, chosen for its historical account of labour regulation in the cultural sector across socialist Yugoslavia, and Praznik’s proposals for how preconceived notions of ‘creativity’ can perpetuate exploitation in the arts. We also propose this read as a response to questions, concerns and ideas shared by nine collectives during the event ‘How to Organise?’, where we shared tools and strategies for collective resilience and imagined together, ways to continue.

You are welcome to participate in any number of the four proposed reading groups. Reading occurs in the moment, not before. We’ll be reading in English, conversation can unfold in multiple languages. The reading group is open to all but may be of particular interest to those involved in labour conditions, self-organising and collective work, and how to sustain these efforts.

In July and August we’ll read: ‘Introduction: The Paradoxical Visibility of Yugoslav Art Workers, or Should Artists Strike?’, ‘Chapter 1: The Autonomy of Art and the Emancipation of Artistic Labour’ and ‘Chapter 2: A Feminist Approach to the Disavowed Economy of Art’.

More on the book: ‘In Art Work, Katja Praznik counters the Western understanding of art—as a passion for self-expression and an activity done out of love, without any concern for its financial aspects—and instead builds a case for understanding art as a form of invisible labour. Focusing on the experiences of art workers and the history of labour regulation in the arts in socialist Yugoslavia, Praznik helps elucidate the contradiction at the heart of artistic production and the origins of the mystification of art as labour.’