WORK FOR WORK

...
James made the first voucher we've seen that was not designed by us. When we saw it we were really pleased that a Work for Work agreement had been initiated and was evidently useful for others.

EUROPA

···

KNOWLEDGE BANK
01.08
Teaching and Publication
.
Matt and Frank teach architecture at London Met University. They approached us because they wanted to broaden their students understanding of graphic design and the importance it has when it comes to communicating their ideas and work. We worked with the students to produce this publication in an edition of 50.

DAVID HOCKNEY
05.2007
Talk
·
We had read that David Hockney regretted that he had not done much teaching, so we invited him to come and do a workshop in the Hockney Gallery at the RCA. We also wanted to show the Hockney paintings that the college owns in this space so that all the students can see them. At first he did not get back to us, but then he invited us to come and see his 'Big Trees by Warter' at the Royal Academy, and the reproduction in his studio.

EUROPA
06.2007
Talk
·
We showed David Hockney around our summer show and talked about our work.

BILL DRUMMOND
23.5.2007
The17
·
With 13 other students we formed 'The 17', Bill Drummond's choir. The sounds and images of 'The 17' are not recorded. See the17.org for more information.

EUROPA
7.2007
Critique
·
Bill Drummond asked us to write a critique of his book '17', which he then included in the final copy.

JAMES GOGGIN
17.1.2007
Work in Progress Workshop 7
·
We started the day by watching DESIGN Q & A with Charles Eames and Madame L’Amic, this led to a discussion about working within graphic design. James based the rest of the workshop around the fact that it was the last in the series. In the afternoon we planned and started making a publication that documented the series of workshops.

EUROPA

...

RYAN GANDER
16.1.2007
Work in Progress Workshop 6
·
Ryan got us to write each others obituaries. It is easier to use humour, flattery, or have an idea about why someone might fake their own death than actually commit to a more honest description of what someone might achieve in their lives. Later we tackled the task of imagining games that could be played with the double-sided cards until our heads hurt.

28.8.07
Safe
·
Ryan bought us a safe for our new studio.

EUROPA
26.1.2007-8.3.2007
Parallel Cards
·
Ryan Gander asked us to design a pack of double fronted playing cards. They were to be made for his solo exhibition ‘Short cut through the trees’ at the MUMOK in Vienna.

10.8.2007
Book
·
‘Loose Associations and Other Lectures’ is a collection of all of Ryan Gander’s lectures, which are informally structured like pub conversations, linking anecdotes and references together. We translated these narrative links in the layout by placing the images in the run of the text where they would appear as slides in the lecture.

PATRICK LACEY & BENJAMIN REICHEN, ÅBÄKE
15.1.2007
Work in Progress Workshop 5
·
We see Kajsa and Maki on a regular basis at the RCA but we rarely meet the other half of Åbäke, so we decided to invite Benjamin and Patrick to do a workshop. With them we offered free guiding to the visitors of our Work in Progress exibition. The number of visitors was not great on that day so we decided to make a small A-Z guide to the exhibition. We printed and distributed it in the show for the rest of the week.

EUROPA
27.4.2007 & 7-9.5.2007
Typeface and Table
·
We digitised a typeface drawn by Lyndhurst and Saint Gabriels' primary schools children as part of a Åbäke workshop. The workshop was part of the Dyslexia programme at the Serpentine gallery. We also made a coffee table book which was both a book and a table. It commemorated the 40th anniversary of the annual O2 magazine and was composed of all 40 issues.

FINN WILLIAMS
14.1.2007
Work in Progress Workshop 4
·
Finn set up a ‘Workout Workshop’ for making scale models of monumental architecture. We listened to 90s dance music as we worked. Every three songs we would move from one material to another, leaving the model we had been working on behind and picking up where someone else had left off. We found that scale, narrative, individuality and being placed on a plinth, can all add to an object’s monumentality. Sometimes no matter how hard you try it is impossible to create a monument and at other times monuments seem to occur almost unintentionally.

EUROPA
10.5.2007
Unmortgage Centre Sign
·
Finn got us to design a sign for his fictional unmortgage/bingo company.

8.8.2007
Place Faking Leaflet
·
Finn William’s work is about faking history and creating fictional heritages for new developments. He asked us to design a publication for his exhibition at the New London Architecture, and we created this leaflet that pretends to be part of a bigger history or context by pretending to be a section of a larger book, starting on page 97. We designed this along with exhibition graphics in the front window and interior space.

ALEXANDRE BETTLER
13.1.2007
Work in Progress Workshop 3
·
We made special rolls that we placed in pairs in the oven so that they would grow into each other as they cooked. They were each to be shared between two people by breaking them back into two pieces. We made paper in a similar fashion. By keeping two different colours of paper pulp separate until they were on the screen, we made a larger sheet of paper that was half pink and half grey. Towards the end of the day we tried to make friends in the gallery by offering the few visitors the freshly baked bread.

EUROPA
24.1.2007
Removals
·
We helped Alex move a proofing press into his studio.

MARTINO GAMPER
11.1.2007
Work in Progress Workshop 2
·
The food in our college canteen is not great so Martino spent the morning with us looking at alternative places to eat in the local area. We turned the information we collected into a ‘Menu of Menus’, to be distributed to fellow students in the canteen. After we chose a recipe from the ‘Cookbook for the Working Classes’ and we prepared it live for the hungry people at the opening.

EUROPA
2.3.2007
Allotment Poster
·
Poster for an experimental restaurant that evolved its menu and interior design in 3 stages. Our design for a promotional poster was overprinted and updated in 3 stages to reflect this. The restaurant was run by Martino Gamper and students on the Design Products MA at the RCA.

MARKUS BERGSTRÖM & KARIN PETERSON
8.1.2007
Work in Progress Workshop 1
·
We intentionally invited Markus to do the first workshop. He is good at building rough yet sensitive products, often in wood. We needed temporary furniture for the rest of the workshops and thought he would be the right man for the job. Karin helped us make fashionable aprons and keep up the spirit in the early hours of Tuesday morning.

EUROPA
19.9.2007
Workwear Label
·
Karin and Markus asked us to design a label for their gradual workwear project. This was part of the exhibition 'Gradual' in which they set up a little station for publically developing workwear.

work@workforwork.org

If you would like to propose an idea for Work for Work with us, please send an e-mail. If you would like to send us documentation of your Work for Work exchanges we would be happy to add them to this website. We would also like to add images of any Work for Work vouchers that people design for each other.

The principle of Work for Work is that person A works for person B for an agreed amount of time, and in doing so they agree that person B will repay person A with their time. This exchange of labour allows each party to experience how the other works first hand, giving both a strong understanding of the other’s practice. We hope to build relationships where we can continue to explore this method for working with people, and would like to encourage others to do the same. This website documents Work for Work exchanges that have taken place not only between us and a second party but also exchanges that have taken place between two parties independent to us. It's not that this exchange of favours constitutes something new, as we make favours for each other all the time. However we have found that the up front nature of the Work for Work agreement is a way of making this exchange economy clearer for both sides.

WORKSHOPS
The Work for Work project began when we organised a series of workshops during our Work in Progress Show at the Royal College of Art in January 2007. We asked the participants to run and take part in one day workshops with us in the exhibition space.

A PROJECT BY:
Mia Frostner
Robert Sollis
Paul Tisdell
Rasmus Troelsen
(
=Europa
)

MISCELLANEOUS
Stravinsky was living in America and having work done on his home. The carpenter that was working for him asked not to be paid with money but to be paid in the form of a musical composition. Stravinsky agreed to his request and this lullaby was the result.

Stravinsky - Lullaby, for 2 recorders (1951) Performed by Amy Whittlesea and Olwen Fisher