SOON AND VERY SOON
By David Yu in collaboration with UNITED HERE Local 75 and Toronto and York Region Labour Council

“Soon and Very Soon” is a multi-sensory installation that incorporates audio and video interview recordings from current and past members of UNITE HERE Local 75, a union which supports hotel and hospitality workers. This site specific work, set in a Toronto hotel room, pulls together soundbites from multiple hotel workers (room attendants, shop stewards, organizers, housemen) into an oral history grafted onto a representation of the ‘back of house’—an area in the service industry which connotes and supports specific class disparities. The title refers to a song which the UNITE HERE Local 75 choir recorded and that reflects a shared community of people who gather in order to advocate for better labour rights for themselves and for future generations.

The site ceremoniously brings invisible narratives back to their location of inception and celebrates the successes of how far this industry has come in terms of workers rights. It relives the narratives which we would rather forget in a field deemed “unskilled” and sings the songs that lifts us up as a community that cares for one another. It shows us that no matter where we stand, the fictitious boundaries erected between environments do not matter—there is no ‘back of house’.

This project was developed through Mayworks’ Labour Arts Catalyst where Yu was paired with writer Paul-Daniel Torres. Guided by Yu’s artistic practice and research, Torres wrote “Hey Mama 2”, a poem inspired by the stories of UNITE HERE Local 75.

“Soon and Very Soon” Installation
May 26 – May 31 (Various times)
Hilton Toronto

David Yu and Maandeeq Mohamed: In Conversation
Friday May 27th, 6PM
Zoom
Register HERE

This performance-to-camera embedded in the Soon and Very Soon installation is inspired by the room turnover quota that was placed on hotel room attendants before they unionized. Housekeepers needed to turnover 18 rooms during an 8 hour shift, essentially needing to clean the room in 30 minutes—which doesn’t account for lunch nor a break. Workers often had to stay late unpaid in order to meet the quota.

In TUCK IN David Yu is instructed by two room attendants on how to make a perfect hotel bed to the standards of the Hilton Hotel. Within a seven hour day the artist proceeds to pay homage to the history of room attendants by making 18 king size beds, striving for the perfect standards and skills necessary in order to complete this essential element in turning over a hotel room. This durational performance shows the backbreaking labour and physical demand that bed making involves. It reveals the class disparity between creating a notion of “perfection” and luxury for the guests in comparison to the servitude of the room attendants. It shows the actual struggle and toll of this type of work as the artist attempts to keep up and keep on, repeatedly stripping away the sheets and rearranging them into the tightest and smoothest bound bed they could possibly make. Through this performance the artist honors the role of the room attendant by trying to earn their respect by “skilling up” to their level while challenging this fictitious idea that these positions are “low skill”. To quote Andria Babbington: “it is on the backs of these people that the empire was built on”.

Artist: David Yu
Collaborator: Daisy Virgo
Collaborator: Linette Brown
Editing and Sound: James Rollo
Run time: 04:53:41 

DAVID YU

David Yu (@scissorkick) is a Toronto based interdisciplinary artist that he subcategorizes under multimedia, installation, and performance. His work stretches from sculptural forms and installation, to audio, video, and live performers. David received a Masters in Fine Art from The Slade School of Fine Art in London, UK and received a Bachelors in Fine Art from the Ontario College of Art and Design. Some highlights from his exhibition record include: a city-wide art installation commissioned and curated by the Duncan and Jordanstone College of Art and Design, funded by the Scottish Arts Council (2010); a Triangle Arts Trust residency and solo exhibition at the Kuona Trust Gallery in Nairobi, Kenya (2010); participation with Flux Night 2012, Atlanta,Georgia, with a multi-channel video installation; MART Gallery Dublin, Ireland (2015); LocustProjects, Miami, Florida (2018); YYZ Artist Outlet, Toronto, Canada (2018); Orleans Gallery, Ottawa, Canada (2018). Currently, David is working on performance-based research which investigates the role of the viewer as “performer” within installation practices, which has been generously funded by the Canada Council for the Arts. david-yu.format.com

PAUL-DANIEL TORRES

Paul-Daniel Torres, is filmmaker, poet and actor, raised by Ecuadorian immigrants in Toronto. His work is based in decolonization, exploring themes of love, family, mental health, politics and intergenerational trauma. He employs an eclectic style reminiscent of his hometown’s multicultural aesthetic, and believes in art’s ability to heal. Always aiming to make people smile.