The Soft Labor Questionnaire: Laura Kleger
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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. Would you like to respond to the Soft Labor Questionnaire? Go right ahead and do so.
Today's respondent is Laura Kleger. Laura is currently the co-Founder and Director of Friday Arts, a nomadic gallery and digital platform that presents exhibitions, artist interviews, short films, and stories to promote deeper engagement with contemporary practice. Previously, Kleger served as the Head of Digital at the Guggenheim Museum for nearly 15 years. She has produced a New York Times Critic’s Pick feature film and worked as a photographer, curator, book editor, product manager, and UX designer. Colleagues have described Kleger as both a conductor and a Swiss Army knife.
Friday Arts has an upcoming artist talk in New York with artists Fabienne Lasserre and Sophy Naess and Louis Block, Managing Director of The Brooklyn Rail on Wednesday, December 17th.
Tell us about the first job you ever did for money.
Assorted teenage things like babysitting and helping my parents with extra chores.
Is your current work related to what you studied in school? If so, how? Or, how not?
I was an Art major at Yale, and received an MFA from Columbia. Studying art at a liberal arts university allows you to explore a wide range of subjects and disciplines. I don't currently identify as a practicing artist in the traditional sense, but the fundamentals of what I studied have been a throughline: curiosity, observation, understanding and making visual meaning, narrative and storytelling, critical thinking, the nature of the human experience. I’ve supplemented with lots of self-teaching and a handful of formal courses through the years, largely around user experience, AI, product, and related professional pursuits. I love learning and consider myself a lifelong student; the more I know, the more I realize how much more there is to learn.
What cultural touchpoint—music, art, literature, etc.—has informed your practice the most? How?
That list is ever-evolving, but probably the biggest impact on my life has been the crappy band I started in college. My bandmate became my life partner and ongoing collaborator, although we left music behind a long time ago.
What is the most rewarding aspect of working in your industry? The most challenging?
I’ve worked in more than one industry, and I feel fortunate that my professional path has allowed me to frequently engage in some of the bigger ideas around the human experience. The work can be about framing ideas, having conversations, examining the world at large, connecting to other people, understanding human behavior, and generally trying to contribute meaningfully.
A challenging aspect is the larger cultural problem of attention and connection, which has become both harder to get and harder to sustain.
Has AI impacted your work? How?
When AI first started mainstreaming a few years ago, I felt a kind of tech optimism I hadn’t experienced since the early internet days, although I do share most of the concerns around the societal impact that others have voiced. It was exciting to see people thinking unconventionally around a new tool, and exciting to think of the possibility for good. I hope it doesn’t calcify as a tool for profit extraction, although in my day to day as a small business owner I benefit from AI, usually helping me be more efficient and sometimes as a thought partner of sorts.
What advice would you give to someone starting a career in your industry?
Say yes to as many opportunities as you can without overloading yourself. Following the spark of curiosity is a great way to meet people who will become ongoing friends and collaborators, and to figure out what interests you.
What are you obsessed with that has little-to-nothing to do with "work"?
Other than raising two incredible sons, I recently returned to my childhood pursuit of horseback riding. It’s a liberating antidote to all the time I spend in my head or at a computer. A high-speed athletic partnership with a 1000+ pound animal demands attuning yourself to your physical present, if you want to survive.
