To Serve (2010)

«To Serve» is the umbrella term that encompasses the three part project, conceived by Jorge and Simone, based on and around the theme of domestic servitude.

Jorge and Simone initially began working together in the context of the Meg Stuart/Damaged Goods project Highway 101 in which they collaborated as video artist and performer respectively. That was back in 2001. Since then they have continued a constant artistic dialogue through exchange of ideas and critical feedback on each other’s work. Jorge was then intimately involved as dramaturge on the creations, Between Amateurs (2006) and Tonic (2007). These were both stage performances initiated by Simone.

In 2008 Jorge began research for a film that explore the relation between the maid as iconic figure and the contemporary experience of domestic workers today. This project, entitled, “Vous êtes servis” has been nourished by encounters and interviews with maids coming from various countries. The precarious and often abusive or illegal position of some of these workers lead Jorge to investigate in the field of contemporary slavery which in turn brought him into contact with organizations that are committed to reducing the growth of this phenomenon. Organizations such as The Centre for Equality of Chance and local centres who host the victims of human trafficking are engaged with analysing the impact of human trafficking; legally, socially and economically as well as offering practical help to the victims of such abuse. The impact and sheer weight of these encounters, detailed in personal stories begged for further exploration and an expanding of the research to other medium than solely film.

In «To Serve» Jorge and Simone collaborated to integrate and stage the raw material of documented experience with a more performative material stemming from their research into the archetypical representation of the domestic. They question the mechanisms that are at play in the act of serving and being served and consider the inherent theatrical dimension that the power relationship contains. By combining their fields of practice in the collaboration they propose a frame that can house multiple facets and perspectives on the chosen subject and allow for the co-habitation of different media and approaches to artistic expressions. Following from this, the project expanded to incorporate the contributions of specific artists or experts that Jorge and Simone invited to produce a work around the ideas of domesticity and servitude.