This event is free to attend but advance booking is required. Book your ticket here. 

 

Work Party for Cheats is a playful communal space for getting the stuff done that we just can’t get done. Each partygoer brings a task that has defeated them. Over two hours we will endeavour to resolve as many unfinished tasks as we can, using all the skills and energy in the room to swap, steal and cheat our way out of our stuckness. Because doing other people’s work is easier than doing your own work, and collective satisfaction is better than individual smuggery.

 

To take part, please bring with you an unfinished or unresolved task, along with anything you think might be useful in resolving it. This could be something that you can’t do because you don’t have the skills or don’t have time, or something you are just avoiding because it’s boring or complicated. Feel free to bring something even if you think it’s impossible to be solved by collective cheating. 

 

Work Party for cheats is hosted by artist Rachael Clerke, assisted by alter- egos Rach (admin support), Ray (logistics) and Roy (unhelpful). It was created in response to overwhelm in the arts, grind culture and the endless to-do list. It’s also a practical response to vapid instagram infographics that tell us that it’s ok to stop, drop everything, go easy on yourself, whilst we live in a world where this is not an option for so many. Sometimes you need to (and even want to) get the things done.

 

In previous Work Parties, participants have done the following tasks for each other: proofread, written budgets, written to pen pals, finished a painting, made a birthday card, given feedback on a novel, toilet trained a puppy, researched impenetrable jargon, shortlisted applications, come up with fundraising ideas, fixed a website, learned about human skin cells, and much more.

 

“I want to come back and do it again and again and again” - participant feedback

 

About Rachael Clerke

Rachael Clerke is a Bristol-based artist working across many mediums. They make artworks that sit somewhere on the edge of live art and community infrastructure; playful experiments about what real life might look like if we were less concerned with what real life ‘should’ look like.

 

These have included: a shop and festival venue for talking about the economy; a performance score for 3-5 year olds to take power over institutional art space; a piece of gig theatre about concrete architecture featuring a drag king punk band; a book of 151 ideas for overthrowing the government; a quilt of data from the 2019 general election; a DIY business selling shares in a communal bicycle; a podcast about private renting.

 

Rachael is part of Interval, a collective of artists sharing space and resources above St Nicholas market in Bristol.

 

Accessibility

Pervasive Media Studio is wheelchair accessible and there is an accessible and gender neutral toilet. There is also a baby changing area.

 

We have a dedicated quiet room where there is low lighting, sofas, bean bags and space to lie down. This is away from the general open space of the Studio.

If you would prefer to visit the Studio before the event to familiarise yourself, please email studio@watershed.co.uk to book in When you book in, we will link you up with a member of our team who will reach out to find out where you would like them to meet you and what time you will arrive. That team member can also arrange a time for you to visit the Studio for a 1-2-1 tour so you can familiarise yourself with our space before attending.