The Art of Maintenance is a durational performance and part of the Maintenance/Ylläpito exhibition project. The durational performance is combined with video projections, along with photographic works and the manifesto. The performance reflects on the significance of housework, maintenance, and care from the perspectives of both artist and mother, and how these impact the artist’s freedom and creativity. Everyday household tasks familiar from the home, such as ironing and window cleaning, take place in the exhibition space. The viewer gets to see and experience in a very tangible way what is involved in the background work of an artist with a family. One of the work’s inspirations is Mierle Laderman Ukeles (1939), a visual artist living in New York, who created the art movement called Maintenance Art as early as 1969.

A modified version of the performance was also presented as part of the street art event Kontula Electronics Festival.