--- title: 2017_Ukeles_New Inquiry date: 2017-12-18T12:37:00-05:00 author: Cat Zhou canonical_url: "https://feldmangallery.com/news/2017/2017-ukeles-new-inquiry" section: News --- [![Ronald Feldman Gallery logo](/src/images/rff_logo.svg)](/) ![](/src/images/search.svg) View Artists Search Artists [Exhibitions](/feature_exhibitions) [Past Exhibitions](/past_exhibitions/) [Artists](/artist_overview) [News & Press](/news_overview) [Inventory](https://www.artsy.net/ronald-feldman-gallery/artists) [Publications](/feature_publications) [Gallery Info](/about) [Contact](/contact) [![Facebook](/src/images/fb.svg)](https://www.facebook.com/RonaldFeldmanGallery/) [![Instagram](/src/images/ig.svg)](https://www.instagram.com/feldmangallery/) [![Twitter](/src/images/tw.svg)](https://twitter.com/feldmangallery?lang=en) [Artsy](https://www.artsy.net/ronald-feldman-gallery) [Artnet](http://www.artnet.com/galleries/ronald-feldman-fine-arts/) ![](/src/images/close_btn.svg) ![](/src/images/close_btn.svg)Artists [ View With Images ](/artist_overview) Jump to: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z A [ Arakawa ](https://feldmangallery.com/artist-home/arakawa-) [ Conrad Atkinson ](https://feldmangallery.com/artist-home/conrad-atkinson) [ Eleanor Antin ](https://feldmangallery.com/artist-home/eleanor-antin) [ Ida Applebroog ](https://feldmangallery.com/artist-home/ida-applebroog-) [ Jim Anderson ](https://feldmangallery.com/artist-home/jim-anderson-) B [ Alexander Brodsky ](https://feldmangallery.com/artist-home/alexander-brodsky) [ Brandon Ballengée ](https://feldmangallery.com/artist-home/brandon-balleng%C3%A9e) [ Brodsky & Utkin ](https://feldmangallery.com/artist-home/brodsky-utkin) [ Chris Burden ](https://feldmangallery.com/artist-home/chris-burden-) [ Joseph Beuys ](https://feldmangallery.com/artist-home/joseph-beuys) C [ Cassils ](https://feldmangallery.com/artist-home/cassils) [ Keith Cottingham ](https://feldmangallery.com/artist-home/keith-cottingham) [ Nancy Chunn ](https://feldmangallery.com/artist-home/nancy-chun) D [ Eric Dyer ](https://feldmangallery.com/artist-home/eric-dyer) [ Milena Dopitová ](https://feldmangallery.com/artist-home/milena-dopitova) F [ Carl Fudge ](https://feldmangallery.com/artist-home/carl-fudge) [ Terry Fox ](https://feldmangallery.com/artist-home/terry-fox) G [ Leon Golub ](https://feldmangallery.com/artist-home/leon-golub-) [ Rico Gatson ](https://feldmangallery.com/artist-home/rico-gatson) [ Yishay Garbasz ](https://feldmangallery.com/artist-home/yishay-garbasz) H [ Cameron Hayes ](https://feldmangallery.com/artist-home/cameron-hayes) [ Christine Hill ](https://feldmangallery.com/artist-home/christine-hill) [ Helen Mayer & Newton Harrison ](https://feldmangallery.com/artist-home/helen-mayer-harrison-newton-harrison) [ Kelly Heaton ](https://feldmangallery.com/artist-home/kelly-heaton) [ Margaret Harrison ](https://feldmangallery.com/artist-home/margaret-harrison) [ Shih Chieh Huang ](https://feldmangallery.com/artist-home/shih-chieh-huang) J [ Simone Jones ](https://feldmangallery.com/artist-home/simone-jones) K [ Brian Knep ](https://feldmangallery.com/artist-home/brian-knep) [ Komar & Melamid ](https://feldmangallery.com/artist-home/komar-melamid) [ Peggy Jarrell Kaplan ](https://feldmangallery.com/artist-home/peggy-jarrell-kaplan) [ Vitaly Komar ](https://feldmangallery.com/artist-home/vitaly-komar) L [ Kim Levin ](https://feldmangallery.com/artist-home/kim-levin-) M [ McCarren/Fine ](https://feldmangallery.com/artist-home/mccarren-fine) O [ Pepón Osorio ](https://feldmangallery.com/artist-home/pep%C3%B3n-osorio) [ The Oakes Twins ](https://feldmangallery.com/artist-home/the-oakes-twins) P [ Bruce Pearson ](https://feldmangallery.com/artist-home/bruce-pearson) [ Panamarenko ](https://feldmangallery.com/artist-home/panamarenko) R [ Fredric Riskin ](https://feldmangallery.com/artist-home/fredric-riskin-1) [ Richard Ross ](https://feldmangallery.com/artist-home/richard-ross) S [ Diemut Strebe ](https://feldmangallery.com/artist-home/diemut-strebe) [ Edwin Schlossberg ](https://feldmangallery.com/artist-home/edwin-schlossberg) [ Federico Solmi ](https://feldmangallery.com/artist-home/federico-solmi-) [ Jason Salavon ](https://feldmangallery.com/artist-home/jason-salavon) [ Todd Siler ](https://feldmangallery.com/artist-home/todd-siler) U [ Mierle Laderman Ukeles ](https://feldmangallery.com/artist-home/mierle-laderman-ukeles) V [ Sam Van Aken ](https://feldmangallery.com/artist-home/sam-van-aken) W [ Allan Wexler ](https://feldmangallery.com/artist-home/allan-wexler) [ Andy Warhol ](https://feldmangallery.com/artist-home/andy-warhol) [ Clemens Weiss ](https://feldmangallery.com/artist-home/clemens-weiss) [ Hannah Wilke ](https://feldmangallery.com/artist-home/hannah-wilke) Y [ Gil Yefman ](https://feldmangallery.com/artist-home/gil-yefman) [ ![Ronald Feldman Gallery logo](/src/images/rff_logo.svg) ](/) [Mierle Laderman Ukeles ](https://feldmangallery.com/artist-home/mierle-laderman-ukeles) “My Working Will be the Work:” Maintenance Art and Technologies of Change The New Inquiry Dec 13, 2017 In 1973, Mierle Laderman Ukeles staged a series of art performances at the Wadsworth Atheneum in Connecticut. In [Transfer: The Maintenance of the Art Object](http://www.learn.columbia.edu/courses/fa/images/large/kc_femart_ukeles_78.jpg), she took over the duties of the museum’s janitor and used his tools to clean a glass case containing a mummy. When she was finished, she stamped her cleaning tools and the mummy case with a rubber stamp, branding them “Maintenance Art Works.” She then transferred the cleaning duties to the museum’s curator, who alone was allowed to handle and conserve artworks. In another performance, *Keeper of the Keys*, Ukeles took the janitor’s keys and locked and unlocked various offices and rooms in the museum. Once Ukeles had locked an office, it became a Maintenance Artwork and no one was permitted to enter or use the room. *Keeper of the Keys* created an uproar, as it drastically impacted the work lives of the museum’s staff who pleaded to have certain floors exempted from the project so they could work undisturbed. Ukeles’ performances, examples of conceptual art called “Institutional Critique,” surfaced the hidden labor of maintenance in the museum setting, and the subsequent visibility of this labor proved to be incredibly disruptive to the institution of the museum. **[Read the full article here](https://thenewinquiry.com/blog/my-working-will-be-the-work-maintenance-art-and-technologies-of-change/)** Related News & Press Dec 06, 2016 [ Mierle Laderman Ukeles: Best of Art 2016 ](https://feldmangallery.com/news/2017/2016-nytimes-ukeles) Dec 06, 2016 The New York Times [Mierle Laderman Ukeles](https://feldmangallery.com/artist-home/mierle-laderman-ukeles) [The Best of Art 2016](https://feldmangallery.com/news/2017/2016-nytimes-ukeles) Nov 06, 2016 [ ![Ukeles Touch Sanitation 25](/assets/exhibition_images/Ukeles/press-thumbnails/Ukeles-Touch-Sanitation_25.JPG) ](https://feldmangallery.com/news/2017/2016-ukeles-new-yorker) Nov 06, 2016 The New Yorker [Mierle Laderman Ukeles](https://feldmangallery.com/artist-home/mierle-laderman-ukeles) [Mierle Laderman Ukeles and the Art of Work](https://feldmangallery.com/news/2017/2016-ukeles-new-yorker) Sep 14, 2016 [ ![Ukeles Touch Sanitation 03](/assets/exhibition_images/Ukeles/press-thumbnails/Ukeles-Touch-Sanitation_03.JPG) ](https://feldmangallery.com/news/2017/2016-ukeles-nytimes-1) Sep 14, 2016 The New York Times [Mierle Laderman Ukeles](https://feldmangallery.com/artist-home/mierle-laderman-ukeles) [An Artist Redefines Power. With Sanitation Equipment.](https://feldmangallery.com/news/2017/2016-ukeles-nytimes-1) Jan 05, 2017 [ ![Chunn Thumbnail](/assets/exhibition_images/Chunn/Thumbnails/chunn-thumbnail.JPG) ](https://feldmangallery.com/news/2017/nancy-chunn) Jan 05, 2017 [Nancy Chunn](https://feldmangallery.com/artist-home/nancy-chun) [What to See in New York Art Galleries This Week](https://feldmangallery.com/news/2017/nancy-chunn) [See All Press ](https://feldmangallery.com/news_overview) Ronald Feldman Gallery has been at the frontier of contemporary art since 1971. The gallery is located in the SoHo neighborhood of New York City and exhibits performance, photography, new media, film, painting, drawing and sculpture. 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