Superfund Coffee Hide Underground Furniture Strike (2022)

Sam Arnone, Samuel James, Andrew Vickery, Isabella Good

Title: Plight of the Common Couch 

Materials:  video, installation, found objects

The 1911 furniture strike at the Widdicomb Furniture Factory exposed the true nature of working in Furniture City. Through religious and political forces, the working class was silenced when demanding higher wages and safer working conditions. By juxtaposing two spaces—one likened to unsafe factory conditions, and the other a recreation of the lavish domestic interiors of the time—the relationship between luxury and exploitation becomes glaringly apparent.