Hints to Workmen

"The singular characteristic of the working classes is their gullibility."
From 'Hints to Workmen', from the Chambers Educational Course, 1847 by Robert Chambers et al.

"A few small hints... A few nudges can help a lot. It is possible to help people make better choices.
'Choice architecture' can be established to nudge us in beneficial directions. By a nudge we mean anything that influences our choices... [Choice] architecture includes rules deciding what happens if you do nothing; what's said and what isn't said; what you see and what you don't... those who are in position to shape our decisions can overreach or make mistakes." 'Nudge', Cass Sunstein and Richard Thaler, 2008

'Hints to Workmen' brings together artists from across the world who offer us 'hints' on what to believe. Each asks what roles we might play in public life, at a moment of dramatic economic change. The exhibition takes its title from a Victorian educational pamphlet that aimed at improving the lives of millions of ordinary working men. The ideas in 'Hints to Workmen', though, strangely resemble those of 'nudge theory', one of the most influential books for politicians on both sides of the Atlantic in recent years. 'Nudge theory' advocates 'libertarian paternalism', arguing that decision-makers should provide 'hints' for the people, to lead them towards their own best interests and to civic harmony.

The exhibition presents a variety of works that examine the possibilities for reshaping our collective future through individual actions. These range from forms of politicized play to outright civil disobedience. The show asks us to imagine, what our "collective ideals [are] around which we can gather, around which we can get angry together, around which we can be motivated collectively - whether on the issue of justice, inequality, cruelty or unethical behaviour".  Some of the artists, like Harun Farocki, reveal the way in which 'workers' have been pictured throughout the industrial age. Others, like Rainer Ganahl, 'swim against the tide' to test the limits of authority through individual acts of defiance or resistance.