Wölfe im Schafspelz Wolfs in sheep clothes

Drei Waschmaschinen mit Pausengesprächen über Arbeit, zwischen dem Schleudern, Luleà, Schweden, 2005

Three washing machine covered in sheep clothes.

Three conversations about work.

The work “Wolfs in Sheep’s Clothings” criticises society humorously from many viewpoints. With regard to the title, we can of course look at the machines that carry out the work so quickly and usefully for us as wolves in sheep’s clothing, which will prove dangerous to us in the long term.
Yes, washing machines work and, judging by what they say to each other, they do not appear to want to do anything else either. They transmit their thoughts to the people from other, poorer countries who come here to get work. Maybe they feel just as foreign in our country as washing machines in an art gallery. We then sense an element of irony in the work’s title: the people looking for work, are they really wolves in sheep’s clothings?
We can also consider which machines are working for us. The sheep’s clothing leads our thoughts to utility animals. People tend to treat animals like some kind of machine that is there just to work for us, and they are often not treated with the respect living creatures deserve. Do we have the right to dominate nature so selfishly?

1: Hello
2/3: Hi
3: What do you want?
1: Work
2: We want work too
1: What do you do
2/3. Work

(After they wash.)