EXHIBITION OVERVIEW
Conceived by AGO artist-in-residence Heather Goodchild, Uniform Factory acts as both a training facility and a romanticized vision of the manufacturing process. In this space Goodchild replicates a fully functioning industrial garment factory in which volunteers are trained to fabricate uniforms that form part of a larger artwork for the artist's upcoming Nuit Blanche performance. The installation serves as a commentary on our current marketplace in which most products are made abroad while local manufacturing jobs are dwindling. This project offers a rose-tinted vision of past labour practices as a way to question our current systems and imagine change for the future.
Uniform Factory embodies the following ideals:
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WORKING WITH OTHERS TOWARDS A COMMON PURPOSE
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KNOWING THAT YOUR SKILLED WORK IS USEFUL TO YOUR COMMUNITY
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MANUFACTURING GOODS CELEBRATED FOR THEIR QUALITY AND CRAFTSMANSHIP
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TAKING PRIDE IN PURCHASING LOCALLY FABRICATED PRODUCTS
Referencing a diversity of ideas from the Shaker notion of object-making as a kind of prayer, to early 20th-century worker propaganda, Uniform Factory seeks to lift the dark stain of the sweatshop from the satisfaction of making an object with pride and care.
ABOUT THE COMMUNITY GALLERY
The Community Gallery in the Weston Family Learning Centre is a project space which provides a platform for artistic experimentation and dissemination. Focused specifically on the processes of making art, and those ideas that feed into contemporary artistic practice, the gallery seeks to showcase the creativity of our museum visitors.