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Stevenson is pleased to present How to Fix a Lift, a project by Simon Gush and Bridget Kenny. Initiated in 2019, Gush and Kenny’s ongoing research project is presented here in the form of an immersive installation. Video documentation is combined with photography, text, wall drawing and ‘elevator music’ to create an ambient environment for the contemplation of labour.
Aspects of the research have been included in conferences on vestiges of the colonial landscape and with reading groups focusing on work and politics. In How to Fix a Lift, this machinery is observed as a resonant metaphor for labour’s role as a conduit between work, life and recreation.
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Getting to Know Your Lift, 2022
Digital video and sound
Duration: 11min 19sec
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The authors have written:'A lift is an often invisible infrastructure to transport a body up and down. Lifts sustain the city, making living and working possible in high-rise buildings. Throughout Johannesburg there are a number of elevators; some are new, but many are old. The older ones were installed when the buildings were built many decades ago. While some have been replaced, most are repaired, and others don’t work at all. Though temperamental and prone to disrepair, the older ones operate through fragile persistence, allowing the precarious lives of their buildings to continue. They connect the spaces of home and work, enabling their users to travel up and down with some ease, to carry shopping and groceries, boxes and furniture. The elderly and families with young kids rely on them the most, but everyone arriving at the lift lobby shows their disappointment when the lifts are broken and they have to walk up the stairs.'
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How to Fix a Lift: Simon Gush and Bridget Kenny
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