ASK! is a group of cultural workers making alliances with (migrant) domestic workers in the Netherlands to research and address conditions and demands of domestic work today. For this event at The Showroom ASK! are collaborating with Justice for Domestic Workers (J4DW) an organisation of migrant domestic workers who work in private houses in the UK. Join the two groups in a reverse graffiti campaign in ‘dirty’ areas of The Showroom’s neighbourhood, using isotypes depicting an ‘army’ of domestic workers created by Berlin artist Andreas Siekmann.



ASK! formed after the GDR Town Meetings on the status of domestic labour in the Netherlands. By organising public actions and experimenting with forms of visual representation and rhetorical strategies, ASK! challenges the known gap between ‘real politics’ and the political, questioning the dominant economic systems that devalue our work and our rights for decent work and living.



This event involves a presentation from members of ASK! followed by an outdoor reverse graffiti action addressing the current campaign for J4DW – a response to events on 6 April 2012 when the UK Government removed the basic rights of migrant domestic workers including the single most important protection: the right to change employer. Migrant domestic workers entering the UK from 6 April 2012 are under the new system of overseas domestic worker visa (ODWV), which is valid for six months only. This effectively removes rights and protections and makes them even more vulnerable to abuse and exploitation.