superconductr: disassembling the cloud factory
Kispert, M. 2021. superconductr: disassembling the cloud factory.
Kispert, M. 2021. superconductr: disassembling the cloud factory.
| Creators | Kispert, M. |
|---|---|
| Description | superconductr uses artistic research methods to explore conditions, contradictions and solidarities in digital platform labour (aka the gig economy), where human labour-power can be mobilised at the click of a button and then discarded again just as quickly once it is not needed any more. Often framed within futuristic narratives of technological innovation and disruption, from the view of workers the relations this puts in place in many ways represent a step backwards before the existence of rights and protections that have gradually been won through centuries of struggles. This exhibition presents a series of interventions created during a PhD research project for superconductr funded by the Centre for Research in Art and Media (CREAM) at the University of Westminster. Many of the works on show employ the functionalities of various digital labour platforms in order to critically intervene within their own structures, as well as to test what kinds of oppositional flows can be inserted into or extracted from their workings. These projects make use of a range of media and strategies including video, sound, photography, text, delegated performance, intervention and outsourced work. The questions raised in the process are concerned with the atomisation of workers through digital platforms, the affective labour on the self that this necessitates, neoliberal subjectivity and its normalisation of competition and self-exploitation, and the embodied experience of digitally mediated labour. Practiced solidarity comes into play through a long-term collaboration with labour rights activists from the grassroots union IWGB, during which a series of activist videos were made in support of the union's campaigns for workers' rights. |
| Year | 20 Sep 2021 |