Christine Hill/Volksboutique, Brooklyn, NY

Volksboutique Home Office
160 Russell Street Number 3R
Brooklyn, New York 11222

Volksboutique Products Division
37 Greenpoint Avenue Fourth Floor Suite VB
Brooklyn, New York 11222

718.349.6375
FAX 718.349.8542
service@volksboutique.org
www.volksboutique.org

Volksboutique is a production label begun in Berlin in 1995 by Christine Hill.

Volksboutique is a self-invented term, intended to serve as an identity and a production ethic. In the former GDR, the "Volks-Eigenen Betrieb" was a service "for the people... by the people" and it is this usage of "Volk" that Volksboutique adheres to the composition and execution of projects made successful by participants. This work is social in nature.

Volksboutique began as a second hand store/sculptural installation in Berlin. Visitors to Volksboutique entered an underground shop, where tea was served, clothes were cheap and people congregated to discuss topics ranging from identity and self presentation, to weather and the effect of tourism on the neighborhood.

Volksboutique is an exercise in labor, in public service, conversational skill and in making the most of what one's got.

Volksboutique is an entity incorporating everyday life and artistic practice.

Volksboutique is Self Starter. Cottage Industry. Do-It-Yourself. Be Your Own Boss.

Volksboutique is not theater. It is a production of life.

Volksboutique is setting up one's own parameters and operating within them. Living by one's own design. Creating definitions. Freedom of occupation.

Volksboutique now presents projects which define this production ethic. We take forms that are recognizable in everyday life, and bend them slightly to make them individual. We call these interventions "Organizational Ventures."

Volksboutique's Home Office and Products Division are now housed in Brooklyn, New York.

A comprehensive publication -- "Inventory: The Work of Christine Hill and Volksboutique" will be available in September of 2003. It features essays by Doris Berger, Barbara Steiner and Lucy R. Lippard. It is published by Hatje/Cantz.

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