“After the Revolution, who’s going to pick up the garbage on Monday morning?” asked artist Mierle Laderman Ukeles in 1977. With that provocation, she shattered the divide between art and everyday labor, becoming the first artist in residence at New York City’s Department of Sanitation. Her collaborations with municipal workers injected art directly into the city’s bloodstream and redefined what creative practice could be. Inspired by Marcel Duchamp, Ukuleles pioneered the radical idea that routine maintenance—from changing diapers to picking up city trash to caring for the earth—could be acts of performance art.
Join us for a screening of MAINTENANCE ARTIST, the first feature documentary to explore this revolutionary public artist’s career. Featuring never-before-seen archival footage, the film traces a half-century of social and artistic upheaval through the lens of essential labor and public art. MAINTENANCE ARTIST celebrates Ukeles’s call for a “Maintenance Revolution,” honoring the workers who keep our world running and the artist who insisted that their labor deserves to be seen.
The screening will be introduced by multimedia artist Debra Scacco, the first civic-appointed artist in residence in the City of Santa Monica’s Water and Waste divisions (2023–25).
DIRECTED BY: Toby Perl Freilich; PRODUCED BY: Toby Perl Freilich & Judith Mizrachy; EDITED BY: Anne Alvergue. 95 minutes, 2025.
This program is part of the Art on Screen series, which celebrates moving-image media and its intersection with art and art histories. The event is inspired by the Getty Research Institute’s collections of feminist performance artists’ archives.
The conversation will be available on the Getty Research Institute YouTube channel following the event.
Visit the Getty Research Institute's Exhibitions and Events page for more free programs.
