Infrastructural Decay: Artists Exploring the Social and Political Relationships of Maintenance and Repair

With the ongoing spread of Coronavirus, societies around the world have become aware of how inextricably linked we all are to the infrastructures that distribute the resources for everyday life.
While infrastructures promise modernity and growth, their neglect and absence expose inequality and the fragility of progress. Continual maintenance and repair keep infrastructures functioning. Infrastructure systems are often hidden beneath the surface of urban life, only becoming apparent when their breakdown occurs. I propose presenting a brief overview of artists exploring how the often neglected and undervalued activities of maintenance and repair are shaped by race, gender, class, and other political, economic and cultural forces.