With his solo exhibition «Import Export» at the Museum of Art Olten, Roland Roos invited visitors for an action holiday in Bulgaria. The destination was the textile company «Pirin-Tex» in Goze Delchev, where leading fashion houses such as Hugo Boss or Tommy Hilfiger produce their goods. When Bulgaria entered the EU, the local textile industry boomed as it was possible to produce «Made in EU» at a low cost there. Even though the country has job opportunities to offer, Bulgaria struggles with the fact that its workforce is leaving for wealthier EU countries. The company «Pirin-Tex», too, is losing its employees. Notwithstanding the positive order situation, the company shrank from 3200 to 2100 employees. In order to preserve cheap production in the east while the country’s workforce is migrating to the west, the idea was for workers from rich western countries to fill in. So the vacant jobs at «Pirin-Tex» are filled temporarily with the Art Museum of Olten’s exhibition visitors. At Olten’s Museum of Art, Roos built a training center, where motivated visitors could acquire the necessary professional expertise and language skills for an assignment at the textile company. Five people allowed themselves the free holiday, working shifts in Goze Delchev for two weeks.

Advertising cards

Impressions