Adele Horne

Maintenance

Adele Horne

James Benning

Maintenance is filmmaker Adele Horne’s exploration and meditation on house cleaning. Cleaning is one of the most private things we do in our homes, other than sex and arguments. We often feel shameful about clutter and dirt, so there is something particularly intimate and meticulous about the act of cleaning it up. Although a clean home is socially valued, the work required to achieve it is not. House cleaning exists on the shadow side of the economy, on the margins or outside of paid employment. It is an additional, uncounted form of labour that enables our roles as paid workers and consumers. This film invites viewers to meditate on the ongoing maintenance work that makes other, more highly valued labour possible.

Rock Clay Sand Straw Wood

Adele Horne

A group works together to build a cottage out of inexpensive local resources in Northern California. The film documents the gestures and materials that are part of the process.