NEAR THE TOP of the list of inspired manifestos—Futurism, Dada, De Stijl— is Mierle Laderman Ukeles’s little-known “Maintenance Art.” As a firsttime mother in 1969, she grew frustrated by the schism between her domestic life, with its boredoms and joys, and her identity as a New York artist. (She later said, “I learned that Jackson [Pollock], Marcel [Duchamp] and Mark [Rothko] didn’t change diapers.”) She channelled her feelings in four typewritten pages, pointing out a double standard; namely, that repetition and systems were considered rigorous in the context of the avant-garde, but dismissed as drudgery when it came to maintenance workers or housewives. One choice excerpt: “After the revolution, who’s going to pick up the garbage on Monday morning?”
The manifesto is currently framed on a wall at the Queens Museum,…
You're reading a preview of
The New Yorker (Digital) - 1 Issue, November 7, 2016