Multimedia Collection
Mierle Ukeles
(A World of Art series)
VHS
30 minutes
NX504 .W641 1996 tape 10
In 1959, contemplating the discontinuity between her work as an artist and the demands of family life - washing, cleaning, caring for a new baby - Mierle Ukeles wrote a "Manifesto for Maintenance Art." Virtually all of her work since then has involved making people aware of the usually invisible work of maintenance. She has scrubbed the sidewalks in front of an art gallery and choreographed "ballets" performed by garbage trucks and construction vehicles. In 1979 she became the artist-in-residence at the New York Department of Sanitation. This program shows Ukeles working on an installation at the Fresh Kills landfill on Staten Island that will allow the public to watch as thousands of tons of solid waste are processed and shipped to the landfill on barges.
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