Workweek – Casper Braat

Back

Work in Progress is an installation; a replication of artist Casper Braat’s marble carving atelier, showcasing sculptures that are in the making process. This imagined space deliberately blurs the distinctions between finished marble artworks and tools and other items found in a working studio space. All of this is collected in a white, dusty environment, a decision that fosters ambiguity between what is fine art and what is not.

Presented in both finished and unfinished states, the marble artworks act as meta-realism: the unfinished and failed works do not actually show any reality of the making, but in and of themselves are well-considered and works of art. This fictive workshop presents an idealised depiction of the artist Casper Braat and glamorises the intense labour and craftsmanship of the actual creation process.

Enter Casper Braat’s workshop where a Porsche 911 is in the middle of being recreated in marble, piece-by-piece, from the massive engine block all the way to the wheel bolts. The marble automobile represents a constant state of becoming, an ambitious project that is near-impossible to complete, placing focus on the value found in-process rather than the end result alone.

The cultural value we place on status symbols, such as automobiles, reflects our societal emphasis on wealth, success, and prestige. These everyday objects are useful and practical yet have the ability to embody aspirations, achievements, and identity, shaping how we perceive ourselves and others. The dismantled car’s individual components are disintegrated and non-functional on their own, and the status relating to the completed car transitions to a new form – the everyday. Casper Braat explores the meaning of these individual parts, questioning the point in which they begin to attain status and/or when they remain nothing at all.

Workweek documents Casper Braat’s carving of a cubic meter of marble into a cubic centimeter by hand over 20 days. The 40-hour film Workweek offers a view of the numerous stages of the long-duration carving performance. The film functions as both an investigation into the time, energy, and physical labor that goes into marble carving, and the absurdity of investing such extreme effort into creating a cubic centimeter block.

The film represents a standardised measure of a full-time work week. It highlights the significant amount of time required to achieve what might seem like a scale change. This focus on time draws attention to the often-overlooked labour and patience involved in stone artwork production, contrasting sharply with the fast-paced consumption habits of modern society. This work is meant to prompt viewers to reflect on a single labourious process and its relation to the many labourers who are behind most of the goods and modern conveniences we may take for granted today.

The film ends with a perfect cubic centimeter and 2750kg of marble detritus.

Workweek
·
4K video
·
40 hours
·
2024