Extending the idea of ‘a rest and a break’ from the workplace to the gallery, Public Share installed and ran a workers club for the duration of the Social Matter exhibition at RM. Attendees who signed up as members of the Public Share Workers Club received a ceramic drinks coaster, which functioned as a ‘membership card’ to the club. During the exhibition, workers club members, gallery visitors, and workplace groups were invited to use the clubrooms for drinks, pool, darts, discussions, and socialising.

Public Share was invited by curator Louisa Afoa to develop and install a project at RM as part of the Social Matter exhibition. Louisa described Social Matter as “an exhibition not necessarily interested in 'social practice' but the idea of social as material – how 'the social' reveals itself and is shaped in different ways by various artists and their practices.”

Extending the idea of ‘a rest and a break’ from the workplace into the gallery, we installed and ran a workers club for the full duration of the exhibition. During the exhibition opening event, we offered ceramic coasters as ‘membership cards’ to attendees who signed up as Public Share Workers Club (PSWC) members.

The project developed from that the view that, as the concept of work continues to be destabilised by technological advances and economic and legislative structures that favour employers over employees, "now is the time for workers to (re)assemble, unite, and assert."

We also drew on the history of traditional workers clubs, which were established not merely as social spaces but with loftier goals – providing both recreational and educational spaces, with many featuring 'mutual school of arts' or 'literary institute' in their official titles. The idea that knowledge is the real source of power meant workers clubs often featured reading rooms with texts on history, science, and art and spaces that hosted discussion groups and education programmes.

Workers Club also hinted at the conundrum of neo-liberalism’s progress – that whilst invention and streamlining were supposed to free workers from labour toward increased leisure, leisure itself has become a form of labour, with workers effectively now always 'at work'.

The 200 PSWC ceramic coasters were produced using clay excavated from the site of the former artist-run gallery GLOVEBOX (2015–2017), which neighboured RM on Samoa House Lane. A 'Workers Club' decal was fired onto each coaster's surface, designed in reference to historic beer coasters used in workers clubs.

Visits to worksites in Aotearoa New Zealand and Australia – sharing a cup of tea and conversation in makeshift workspaces – influenced our decision to install a fairly ‘rough-and-ready’ space at RM. The PSWC, with its assorted chairs, signage, and various shades of high-vis, echoed 'the local', from the staff room and workers club to the site tearoom and the corner pub, highlighting the importance of having both the time and the space to take a break.

For the three weeks the club was open, Public Share invited all workers – regardless or employment status and contractual arrangements – to shift away from labour. Attendees were invited to engage in conviviality, comradeship, and recreation by using PSWC facilities, including playing cards, engaging with the gallery's archive, and helping themselves to refreshments.

Key PSWC events included a ‘club day’ on Saturday 26 August 2017 and an ‘evening talk’ on Friday 8 September 2017. For club day, the PSWC was opened to members and RM visitors for an afternoon of pool and darts. A number of workplace groups also booked the club for after-work drinks and get-togethers throughout the exhibition period.

For the evening talk,The collective is dead, long live the collective, Tertiary Education Union representative Dr Julie Douglas discussed legislative structures in Aotearoa New Zealand that favour employers over employees, and the decline in union membership between 1980 and 2017.

Project: Workers Club

Date: 19 August - 9 September 2017

Location: RM Gallery and Project Space, Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland, Aotearoa New Zealand

Participants: Public Share Workers Club (PSWC) members, workplace groups, gallery visitors

Lot #: 019

Ceramic object: 200 PSWC coasters