Filed under: activism, ideas, publication | Tags: activism, economics, ideas, other exhibitions, overwork, resistance, rights, society, time, work, working
It is idiotic for a slave to be productive for their master. It is stupid for the working-class to be productive for the enemy, capitalist, class. Workers of the world must unite in an effort to derail the capitalist economy through chronic unproductivity. Workers must destroy capitalism by using unproductive labor to suck the life/capital out of it.
Filed under: 2. Participating Artists, activism, ideas | Tags: activism, art, documentary, economics, ideas, internships, lifestyle, news, overwork, time, unpaid labour, video, work
How to be a Good Intern from Libby Page on Vimeo.
Libby Page writes:
This is the trailer for my short film that will be launching in summer 2013, called All Work and No Pay.
For several years unpaid internships have made headlines and created a social media buzz, yet the foundations of the fashion industry are still built on the bricks of unpaid labour.
But how solid are these foundations?
All Work and No Pay argues that we are approaching the tipping point in the internship debate. It will get inside the issue by talking to interns and employers alike and following the campaigners who are pushing to eradicate this unpaid internship epidemic.
THE INDUSTRY SAYS: “We can’t afford to pay our interns.”
LIBBY SAYS: “You can’t afford not to.”
Filed under: interactive | Tags: activism, Canada, game, ideas, overwork, social, time, women, work
This game, created by the Canadian Labour Congress, is a way to start a conversation about the challenges women face in balancing work and family life – from finding child care to securing safe housing, to dealing with a stressful workplace.
Follow this link to play the game, then check out the sections on the left to learn more about the challenges women face with regard to work/life balance.
Filed under: ideas, news articles | Tags: article, ideas, rights, unpaid labour, work, working
by Heather Mallick in The Toronto Star (February 10, 2011)
http://www.thestar.com/news/article/936573–mallick-huffington-post-aol-and-the-perils-of-free-labour
Excerpt:
“Free work is like a puddle of dirty water, spreading fast and if you’re young, hard to escape unless you keep your wits about you. Unpaid interns are a byword in office life now but they have lousy lives. There’s a reason interns are asked to rub lotion onto the legs of talk-show hosts. It’s that people who work for free are treated worse than paid people. But you learn so much about the business! ”
ps – keep an eye on the NTTL link to delicious.com where I continue to post interesting relevant articles when I see them/think to post ’em 😉
Filed under: ideas, take action, videos | Tags: economics, fairness, ideas, income gap, lifestyle, overwork, poverty, rights, society
Filed under: activism, artists, contemporary art, events, ideas | Tags: activism, art, artists, contemporary art, economics, event, ideas, labour, lectures, other exhibitions, social, society, time, work
This looks great and I’m disappointed I’ll be missing it as I was in Stockholm in October and will be returning in January…
Mladen Stilinović, "Chinese Business," 2009 (detail). Collage.*
The seminar series at Iaspis discusses the image of work, the worker and the workplace in relation to diverse strategies within contemporary art. What roles are played by spatial organisation and activism? What concepts are the descriptions of artistic production and labour framed by? What ideologies are involved in the production of the artistic subject? Is the artist a role model for the contemporary “post-fordian” worker—flexible, creative, adaptable and cheap—a creative entrepreneur within an advanced service economy?
The first seminar treats contemporary and historical images of labour, and reflects on what type of “worker” the artist could be. On the Conditions of Production brings up the organisation of work within the art world. The third seminar discusses what role art can play—politically and socially—in relation to the public realm and spatiality. Artists, curators, activists, architects and researchers are contributing to the seminars.
The program is curated by Michele Masucci (artist), Annika Enqvist, Cecilia Widenheim and Jonatan Habib Engqvist (Iaspis). For further information http://www.iaspis.se
Seminar#1: Representations of Labour
20 November 10 am – 6 pm
What is the image of work? How and by whom has this image been produced? What are the means of production involved in artistic representations of workers, workers movements and the workplace? What are the theoretical and practical challenges in these representations? How is the role of the artist presented and what kind of “worker” is the artist? The seminar addresses what work is and has been through experiences of work and questions concerning migration, economy, class and technology.
Participants include: Annika Eriksson (artist, Berlin), Kirsten Forkert (artist/researcher, London), Ingela Johansson (artist, London), Stefan Jonsson (writer, Stockholm), Maria Lind (curator, Stockholm), Sarat Maharaj (writer, London/Malmö), Pratchaya Phinthong (artist, Bangkok), Joanna Sokolowska (curator, Lodz), Nina Svensson (artist, Stockholm)
Seminar#2: On the Conditions of Production
27 November 2 pm – 6 pm
28 November 10 am – 5 pm
A two day workshop hosted by a research group initiated by BAC (Baltic Art Center) in Visby. What are the general terms of production in society at large? How does economy, cultural politics and media relate to art? What does alienation imply in an increasingly socially oriented production process? What is the distribution of labour within the art world; what are the pros and cons of today’s system? Could one imagine an open working process, independent from predefined expectations? How can one organise a production-based residency today? The Open Call for Contributions aims at opening the ongoing research process and add to the discussion. In order to contribute and participate, please register by email to ontheconditionsofproduction@gmail.com
Participants include: Kajsa Dahlberg (artist, Berlin), Kim Einarsson (director Konsthall C, Stockholm/Berlin), Mattìn (artist, Berlin), Michele Masucci (artist, Stockholm), Lisa Rosendahl (director BAC, Visby/Berlin), Fredrik Svensk (writer and critic, Göteborg), Alexei Penzin (philosopher, Moscow) and contributing practitioners.
Seminar#3: Art for Social and Spatial Change
3 December, 5 – 9 pm
4 December, 10.30 am – 5.30 pm
Two days revolving around the question of what it means to take action today. The conversations include intersectional perspectives on labour and the so-called creative industry. What are our possibilities to act within an artistic practice in social, spatial and political change? In what way are conflicts concerning work expressed in the workspace and in society? How is public space staged in the private? How can emancipatory political projects such as the feminist and queer movements separate themselves from an increasing commodification of political and social subjects? Is it possible to imagine a “movement” in the sense of a collective process of the transformation of reality today?
Participants include: Lars Bang Larsen (writer and curator, Barcelona), Franco Berardi (researcher, Bolongna), Ana Betancour (professor architecture, Göteborg), Catharina Gabrielsson (architect and reseacher, Stockholm), Helena Mattsson (ass. professor and architect, Stockholm), Raqs Media Collective (artists and activists, New Dehli), Nina Power (researcher, Roehampton) and Judith Revel (philosopher, Paris) among others.
On display, “Chinese Business” by Mladen Stilinović (Iaspis, 2009)
The series takes place at Iaspis in relation to the exhibition Image at Work produced
by XpoSeptember in collaboration with Index, The Romanian Culture Institute and Moderna Museet.
Iaspis, Swedish Arts Grants Committee
Maria skolgata 83, 2nd floor
Stockholm, Sweden
http://www.iaspis
Filed under: artists, contemporary art, exhibition, ideas, interactive | Tags: art, contemporary art, curating, economics, exhibition, ideas, news, other exhibitions, social, society, time, work
e-flux is pleased to launch Time/Bank: a platform initiated by Julieta Aranda & Anton Vidokle, where groups and individuals can pool and trade time and skills, bypassing money as a measure of value. Time/Bank is based on the premise that everyone in the field of culture has something to contribute and that it is possible to develop and sustain an alternative economy by connection existing needs with unacknowledged resources.
http://www.e-flux.com/timebank
The origins of time-based currency can be traced both to the American anarchist Josiah Warren, who ran the Cincinnati Time Store from 1827 until 1830, and to the British industrialist and philanthropist Robert Owen, who founded the utopian “New Harmony” community which banned money. The first successful contemporary time bank was started in 1991 by Paul Glover in Ithaca, New York. Following his idea, people began to exchange time, which led to the creation of a time-based currency—the “Ithaca Hours,” which even local businesses began to accept, and which still flourishes. Time banking and service exchange have since developed into a full-fledged movement, usually centered around local communities.
Time/Bank at e-flux is modeled on existing time banks. Every Time/Bank transaction will allow individuals to request, offer, and pay for services in “Hour Notes.” When a task is performed, the credit hours earned may be saved and used at a later date, given to another person, or contributed towards developing larger communal projects. For example, if you happen to be in Beijing or Hamburg and need someone to help you shop for materials or translate a press release, you would be able to draw on resources from Time/Bank without exchanging any money.
Through Time/Bank, we hope to create an immaterial currency and a parallel micro-economy for the cultural community, one that is not geographically bound, and that will create a sense of worth for many of the exchanges that already take place within the art field—particularly those that do not produce commodities and often escape the structures that validate only certain forms of exchange as significant or profitable.
To open a time bank account, please register at www.e-flux.com/timebank/user/register.
Filed under: ideas, news articles | Tags: article, economics, ideas, lifestyle, retirement, rights, society, time, vacation, work, working
There is nothing enlightened about this proposal and the ulterior motive is remarkably transparent.
Why on earth should people be enticed to continue generating profit for others through their labour? Indeed, wages continue to fall despite profits in a number of sectors (mainly banks). Much work is also related to continuing the ecologically destructive cycle of consumption.
People should have the chance to pursue their own range of interests without external pressures such as bosses, sales quotas, meetings, deadlines, or overtaxing workloads due to reduced staffing. Furthemrore, people should be bal eto pursue their own interests withou being a slave to economic interest as defined by others.
Reposted from: euro|topics 09/09/2010
Le Monde – France
Vijay Monany on fascinating work instead of retirement
If the French have recently striked and demonstrated en masse against the government’s plan to raise the retirement age to 62, it’s because their working environment doesn’t offer them all it should, writes Vijay Monany from the management consulting firm Khampus in the daily Le Monde: “The reason why the French prefer retirement to work is exactly the same as why they prefer holidays to work. … They are bored by their work, and they develop their interests outside of work. The real paradox is that it’s only when they retire that people feel their life is starting, that they can take control of their destiny and read, travel, follow their interests, or spend time with their friends. … One day we’ll understand that social progress does not consist in stringing together weeks of holiday, reducing the number of working hours or lowering the retirement age. One day we will understand that true progress consists in making work so interesting that there will be no difference between it and leisure time. One day we’ll see that the solution to pension reform consists in rendering work so fascinating that no one wants to retire.” (08/09/2010)
» full article (external link, French)
More from the press review on the subject » Trade unions, » Social affairs, » Labour, » France
All available articles from » Vijay Monany
No Time to Lose: A Search for Work / Life Balance 