‘Onder de Streep’ (Below the Line) is a project about poverty among working people and how this poverty is linked to the growing wealth at the top.
Rune Peitersen and Yuri Veerman developed the campaign during an artist-in-residence program at Rabo Art Lab. At the heart of the project is a nationwide fly-posting campaign featuring hundreds of receipts that show what people in various professions have left after expenses. The campaign launched in Amsterdam in early September and spread across the rest of the country in the run-up to Prinsjesdag.
On October 4, an exhibition featuring the receipts will open at the Depot of Boijmans Van Beuningen museum; anyone can view the receipts for themselves on the website onderdestreep.net.
Bringing hidden poverty to light
In every province of the Netherlands, the two artists aim to use their ‘Onder de Streep’ campaign to show that there is a growing group of ‘working poor’ in the Netherlands who, despite their income, can barely make ends meet. The nationwide fly-posting campaign displays purchasing power charts for various professions: from janitor to senior tax partner. On each receipt, the artists feature a profession with a simple equation below it: INCOME – FIXED EXPENSES = SPENDING MONEY.
The Working Poor
For example, a package delivery driver has 672 euros left over each month after fixed expenses, while a senior tax partner has 46,852 euros to spend each month. Peitersen: “It makes sense that there are differences in compensation, but there must be a correlation between the value that the work adds to society and the compensation you receive. Increasingly, that ratio is skewed, both at the bottom and at the top.”
Want to create your own receipt?
Through their receipts, the artists aim to shed light on growing inequality. To break the taboo surrounding the discussion of income, Peitersen and Veerman invite everyone to create their own receipt at onderdestreep.net and share it online or print it out and display it in their window. The artists themselves are also featured on the receipt. Veerman: “The website features interviews with people who share how difficult it is to make ends meet despite their work. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to find any senior tax partners who were willing to share their stories as well.”
Rabo Art Lab and Exhibition
The campaign was developed as part of the Rabo Art Lab residency program, an initiative of Rabobank. Verily Klaassen, head of Rabo Art Lab: “Through the Rabo Art Lab, Rabobank offers artists a space to explore social themes from an independent perspective and to offer new perspectives on complex issues such as financial health, livelihood security, housing, and food.”
On October 4, an exhibition featuring the vouchers and interviews will open at the Rabo Art Space in the Depot of Boijmans Van Beuningen. On November 22, the exhibition will conclude with a debate on the value of work. In addition, various art institutions across the country will display the vouchers on or inside their buildings to support the message.
Photography: Rune Peitersen, Tatiana van Waveren
