Rest is Resistance

Artivismus, Festival, Conzert, Performance

06.05.2023, 16-22
Skatepark Bodenstedtgasse, 1210 Wien

What do we think today when we say to rest? Do we even think we have the right to be lazy? The context in which we live requires a constant existential struggle and an effort to satisfy basic needs, which takes away our right to rest. The need to be accepted in society, because only through work, we are capable and willing, leads me to the moment, to problematize that issue, and rest as a means of resistance. Am I worth anything if I don’t produce? Is it worth it if I give myself a moment to rest? I think that the question I am raising is universal and applies to everyone, but from the position of a queer migrant who constantly has to prove herself to someone, progress, work, and study, I realized that there is little space left to actually deal with myself and my needs, and the best ideas sometimes they come when we are lazy. – zoe gudović

While the right to freedom in the sense of equality is taken away from us, the right to leisure is also taken away. Thereby the project problematizes the issue of the right to rest or interruption of work as something we have fought for. Now in the jaws of hyperproduction and capitalism, the perfection of mind and body is reflected in constant work, on ourselves and others. Work liberates? Non-working and free time is freedom, but somehow we forgot about it. That's why this event intersects with the issue of anti-fascist heritage and the right to rest. Today while poverty is increasing, we must not forget the workers’ movement who began to fight for this right. Let us remember and keep our right to rest, to rest, and to leisure.

Project REST IS RESISTANCE is realized in cooperation with Olympionik*innen Productions, and as part of SHIFT (Basis.Kultur.Wien), a funding program of the City of Vienna