Project at ZK/U - Lise Skou
Lise Skou ( Denmark )
During her two months stay at ZKU she will be working on a newly initiated project entitled The Household Studio – a collaboration with Bonnie Fortune (US/DK) and Sophia Seitz-Rasmussen. Their project begins with troubling the idea that Capitalism is an impenetrable hegemony by focusing our research and projects toward non-capitalist sites, such as the hidden economies of domesticity.
Taking a perspective of feminist critique they return to the household of Adam Smith, as he is writing the foundational text on the study of contemporary economics, The Wealth of Nations. Smith’s writing took place in the safe space of his mother’s house-his domestic needs, cooking, cleaning, etc. were taken care of by her labour. The Household Studio are interested in returning to this theoretical oversight–the point where Smith neglected to account for the hidden economy of the household while developing his ideas on free market economies that continue to shape today’s economic theories. They want to look at the hidden economies of the home as non-capitalist sites and discuss how focusing on these hidden economies, might shape an understanding of a future beyond capitalism, or at least produce a more nuanced understanding of contemporary economics. The Houshold Studio are inspired by feminist critiques of economics: The End of Capitalism (As We Knew It) J.K. Gibson-Graham; Caliban and the Witch Silvia Fredirici, and Feminism Without Borders, Chandra Talpad Mohanty, among other texts.
In September they will particpiate at <Schutzraum> at Thealit in Bremen with the lecture-performance Adam Smith’s Mother
