Quarantine Workout – Standards

Art is one of the possible techniques for enlarging and empowering one’s capacity to act, but it isn’t the only one. The important thing is to experience and to have a certain conduct. This conduct has determined the paintings I’ve painted, the puns I’ve made, and everything I’ve done, publicly, in any case. (Marcel Duchamp, in: Maurizio Lazzarato, Marcel Duchamp and the Refusal of Work, Semiotext for Whitney Biennial, 2014)

In these previously unknown times we find ourselves facing some restrictions to our liberties. Nevertheless, we experience a context different than usual – less productive – where we can give room to our thoughts, widen our awareness to the surroundings, whether it’s our house’s fridge or the landscape on the way to the grocery store.We have decided to seize this condition as an opportunity to propose a practice made of observation, listening and reciprocity with the context we inhabit. This will be achieved through a series of scores, practical exercises aimed at approaching the daily reality at different modes and velocities.

The new series Quarantine Workout thus begins. Every once in a while, we will share some unreleased instructions, inviting the public to practice the proposed scores. The releases QW.O and QW.1 are a set of exercises by Standards’ collective. Other episodes will follow with scores composed on purpose by invited artists.

As an occasion for a collective performance of these scores is not foreseen, these exercises are to be acted individually at your pleasure, at your own pace, as and when you wish, and for how many times you would like to. If you feel like letting us know about your practice, we will stay tuned to listen to the experiences and thoughts you would like to share with us.