I WOMEN 100 WATT is an interactive installation and performance that explores the entanglement of domestic labour, burden, and hope within patriarchal capitalism by featuring a female cleaning worker whose wrists are cuffed in solid steel and connected to a hand-operated generator. As she cleans a large glass window in front of spectators, the movement of her hands activates the generator, producing electricity that powers LED strips of around 100 watts and illuminates the space. The window is continuously dirtied by the spectators triggering sensors and pumps, as they may either withdraw and leave the performance, or remain and force her to continue cleaning.

The work links histories of gendered discrimination to the potential for social change by examining economic structures that trap women — particularly in undervalued and invisible forms of labour.

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17 May 2025
11m³

Photos: Nathalia Azuero and Carlos Santos
Funded by: Kreativfonds Nachwuchs 2024, Bauhaus-Universität Weimar