Allan Sekula. Performance Under Working Conditions

The art works and writings of Allan Sekula (1951 Erie–2013 Los Angeles, US) are widely discussed in the field of contemporary art and photography in general. Performance under Working Conditions, organized by the Generali Foundation, was the first retrospective of the artist to be shown in Austria. At the same time, it was the first exhibition to relate Sekula’s recent projects to his early works. The exhibition particularly highlighted an aspect of his work that was often underestimated: Sekula’s interest in the theatrical, which acts as a counterbalance to the documentary side of his work and introduces other elements of irony. This was reflected not only in the early performances and actions carried out in the context of the anti-Vietnam War movement, which this exhibition presented in a comprehensive form for the first time ever, but also in his recent works.

In installations consisting of sometimes extensive sequences of photographs, Sekula focused among other things on the changes in the working world brought about by a global economy. In this context, the examination and analysis of seafaring activities was a recurrent theme; it was also the central element in his photographic cycle Fish Story, which has attracted considerable attention since Documenta 11. Sekula continued his artistic engagement with the sea and international shipping in his new project, Black Tide/marea negra, which he created around the oil catastrophe in Galicia in Spain.

By combining image and text, Sekula brought together two important areas of his work: the documentary and the critical aspect, the work of the photographer and that of the author. This distinctive combination was seen here in many forms. The presentation of the various media—booklet and poster, wall text and audio tape—that Sekula employs alongside his photography makes manifested the wide spectrum of his political, philosophical, and literary points of reference.