SPACORE
SPACORE is the lifestyle aesthetic of the moment. Borne of the intersection of work-from-home and pandemic horror, SPACORE is the blurring lines of relaxation and employment. It is the labor of repose. SPACORE is a critique of wellness capitalism. It explores the attempt to pacify the working class with the promotion of superficial “wellness.” This version of wellness co-opts the language of radical self-care and redefines it as access to upper-class amenities. Wellness culture derives its “authenticity” from appropriative aesthetics that steal from Eastern and Indigenous cultures. Wellness is a neoliberal project designed to locate suffering within the individual in order to repress political revolt. SPACORE situates wellness in the horror genre, where it belongs.
SPACORE at MDW Fair 2022
The first iteration of SPACORE was for the long anticipated MDW fair, Assembly, held at Mana Contemporary Chicago in September 2022. For this fair the SPACORE team installed a full steam room, waiting room, and drop ceiling which leaked into a fountain in a manner of two days. The work I contributed to this installation was titled Blood Fountain, a fully ceramic working fountain which took in ambiguous blood red liquid pouring from a stained hole in the drop ceiling which fed into a basin. The piece was 3’x4’ and was inspired by rotting flowers.
The spa was fully immersive experience in which guests were invited to get their make up done, be humiliated, and use the steam room. The work was activated by a series of artists and performers who acted as ‘employees’ of the spa, who were disgruntled miserable looking workers who failed to their job in a very ‘cunty & clownish’ manner. To read more about this first foray into the SPACORE universe read more about it here.
