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# Marina Abramović Institute Seeks So Much Unpaid Work
- URL: https://hyperallergic.com/marina-abramovic-institute-seeks-so-much-unpaid-work/
- Published: 2014-07-31T18:31:44.000Z
- Updated: 2025-11-24T16:16:45.000Z
- Description: Good news: the Marina Abramović Institute is hiring! Bad news: all four positions listed in this fresh New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA) ad are unpaid — ahem, volunteer. They're probably great "opportunities," though, right?
- Author: Jillian Steinhauer
- Tags: In Brief, Marina Abramovic, Marina Abramović Institute for the Preservation of Performance Art, unpaid work, #wp, #wp-post, #image-position-hidden, #Import 2025-11-24 07:03 (2014, 2015, part 1)

![Marina Abramović (screenshot via Vimeo)](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2014/07/marina-unpaid.jpg)

Marina Abramović (screenshot via Vimeo)

Good news: the Marina Abramović Institute is hiring! Bad news: all four positions listed in this fresh [New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA) ad](https://www.nyfa.org/Classifieds/Job/174061a8-c430-45ae-822a-5c33ec0792eb?ref=hyperallergic.com) are unpaid — ahem, *volunteer*. They’re probably great “opportunities,” though, right?

Let’s take a look.

1\. Administrative Volunteer

- **Work:** “general administrative duties, planning art-based special events, and development.”
- **Skills required:** “excellent writing skills, the ability to multi-task, proficiency in Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel, and prior experience working in a fast-paced arts non-profit or other administrative position.”
- **(Nonmonetary, intangible) benefits:** “the opportunity to grow within the organization and expand professional networks.”

2\. Tech and Production Volunteer

- **Work:** “development and maintenance of IMMATERIAL, MAI’s digital journal.”
- **Skills required:** Unclear, but they are looking for people “who would like to expand their knowledge of Javascript / JSON / Jquery, HTML5, CSS, Video streaming via Vimeo and/or Youtube Live,” which implies that you should already have some knowledge of these things.
- **(Nonmonetary, intangible) benefits:** “a unique opportunity to hone technology skills on a highly visible, emerging arts platform.”
- **Bonus job volunteer position:** “We also have volunteer opportunities for assistance with video and audio production, photo editing, and print layout.” Awesome, because I was wondering about that.

3\. Special Projects Volunteer

- **Work:** “preparing and working on collaborative in-person and digital projects.”
- **Skills required:** “excellent organization and communication skills, proficiency in Microsoft Office, Adobe Creative Suite and basic HTML / CSS coding, familiarity with non-profit administration, comfort collaborating with partners in and outside of the arts and strong passion for the expanding the role of arts and sciences in various communities”
- **(Nonmonetary, intangible) benefits:** none, but “artists are encouraged to apply”!

4\. Research Volunteer

- **Work:** “researching for the content of IMMATERIAL”
- **Skills required:** “based in New York City and have a college-level background in art history, performance art, and/or performance art studies. Strong writing skills required. Additional background in at least two of the following: the sciences, research assistance, curatorial practice, performing arts, fine arts, photography / video.”
- **(Nonmonetary, intangible) benefits:** none, unless you are “a critical thinker who wants to apply their skills to a large-scale collaborative project” and find that this fits the bill.

All of these positions have at least two-day-a-week commitments — which, amazingly, makes them sound even *more* like part-time work than they already do.

Abramović [raised over $660,000 for her institute on Kickstarter](https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/maihudson/marina-abramovic-institute-the-founders/posts?ref=hyperallergic.com) in June and recently “[collaborated” with Adidas](https://hyperallergic.com/marina-abramovic-made-a-film-with-adidas/). Yet somehow she cannot afford to pay people to work for MAI. (In the process she makes Jeff Koons, who [boasted on Charlie Rose](https://hyperallergic.com/jeff-koons-offers-charlie-rose-art-enlightenment/) this week about how many people he employs, look like a saint.) We can only hope that, one day, someone who toils without compensation within the MAI apparatus will grab hold of their social media and give us something as good as this:

[![ArtPapers-unpaidintern-tweet](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2014/07/artpapers-unpaidintern-tweet.jpg)](https://twitter.com/artpapers/statuses/494612919250735104?ref=hyperallergic.com)

**Addendum:** There have been some great, strong reactions on Twitter to the job posting, including:

[![Screen Shot 2014-07-31 at 7.08.52 PM](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2014/07/screen-shot-2014-07-31-at-7-08-52-pm.png)](https://twitter.com/blair%5Fe%5Fmurphy/status/494922942204358656?ref=hyperallergic.com)

[![Screen Shot 2014-07-31 at 7.09.21 PM](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2014/07/screen-shot-2014-07-31-at-7-09-21-pm.png)](https://twitter.com/azusakobayashi/status/494945587868217344?ref=hyperallergic.com)