Spare Time Work

SPARE TIME WORK is a constructed game-like park in which a science-fiction is pictured. Through poetic and political fantasies, buren depicts historical facts and a possible future.

Melissa Mabesoone and Oshin Albrecht take a closer look at the social realities and economic forces that influence the concept of 'leisure' and 'work'. What does leisure time mean in our Western society and for the creators personally?

Melissa and Oshin draw from their personal histories: Melissa grew up on a farm where the work is never 'finished' and there are specific divisions of labour based on gender. Oshin is a child of shoe shop owners at the Belgian coast, who promote their wares to the tourists through sales pitches and targeted services.

In an associative narrative and through video projection, they link personal memories to the history of leisure and labour, the evolution of women's labour in Belgium and abroad. The complex relationships between master and servant, between dirty and clean, between suffering and enjoyment, inside and outside, the one who looks and the one who is seen, are the inspiration for how buren gives shape to the performance.