No. 56: The Soft Labor Questionnaire: Laura Raicovich
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The Soft Labor Questionnaire, is simply that: A brief series of questions we’ve asked comrades in the field to answer about their own working experiences.
Today's respondent is Soft Labor collaborator, notorious New York culture worker, and jeweler Laura Raicovich, whose brand, Istria Napoli, recently launched at Powerhouse Arts. Her anti-authoritarian collective initiative, Fall of Freedom, was recently written about in Hyperallergic.
A brief introduction, in her own words:
As a recovering museum director (Queens Museum, 2015-2018) and lifelong culture non-profit worker, I remain shocked that I've been able to build an enormously fulfilling life and career outside of institutions. It is an enormous privilege, and yet here I am.
One of my very favorite recent projects was the realization of the CIRCUS OF LIFE in Saint Louis with the epic public art organization Counterpublic last October. This unusual convening brought people together under a literal circus tent. It featured big-stage presentations ranging from the exuberant Bread and Puppet Theater to a brilliant conversation between Roxanne Gay and Chloë Bass, and booths organized by the likes of Metabolic Studio and Tania El Khoury, to workshops with the Department of Transformation and Hilma's Ghost. More than 1,200 people got together with artists and performers over the course of a weekend for an incredible experiment in living and connecting otherwise. It was a dream.
Tell us about the first job you ever did for money.
In high school, I collected the parking fees for the local flea market in the parking lot at Roosevelt Raceway on Long Island. I got many damp dollar bills, wet from who knows what, handed to me in that dank little booth. Very glam.
Is your current work related to what you studied in school? If so, how? Or, how not?
As an undergraduate, I studied Art and Political Science. Enough said.
What cultural touchpoint—music, art, literature, etc.—has informed your practice the most? How?
I suppose reading is what I always come back to when I'm feeling most at loose ends. Getting lost in a story that is playing out in the liminal space of wherever it is that my mind goes through literature is pure magic. And I'm still surprised that I find clues to getting unstuck in the most unexpected ways through books.
What is the most rewarding aspect of working in your industry? The most challenging?
Encountering an artwork that shifts the way I see or imagine the world around me never gets boring and is forever inspiring. And working and talking with (or reading about) artists who are making these kinds of works is an incredible reward. However, the extent to which arts and culture are under-resourced is always going to be the biggest problem. Given the sheer wealth of our world, how is this even possible?
Has AI impacted your work? How?
I don't want to sound Pollyanna, but AI scares the shit out of me—its voracious and ever-growing energy needs; its capacity to replace legions of actual humans' efforts. That said, for a minute, when I was learning to use Shopify to launch my new handmade (by me!) jewelry brand, Istria Napoli, I thought it was indispensable. Those first hours navigating the software with the AI bot right there for me to ask any and all questions was great. That is, until I got deeper and realized it was actually severely limited and, unless I was very disciplined, would send me down hours-long rabbit holes of complicated fixes for things that were really quite simple to resolve.
What advice would you give to someone starting a career in your industry?
Repeat after me, "I am more than my position within an organization, and for all the great things that this institution does, it cannot do them without the actual people who work there, and it will never love me back."
What are you obsessed with that has little-to-nothing to do with "work"?
I learned how to clam this summer. Wading into the shallows and feeling around for these gorgeous bivalves with your toes is super fun, and then you get to cook them. I can't tell you how delicious making vongole oreganata is with just-dug clams. I have my friend Schoenie to thank for introducing me to such a satisfying ritual.
