Overtime A Panel on Labor and Its Discontents Monday, June 22, 7pm Join the CCA for a discussion of work, its various environments (physical and virtual), meanings, and outlets in the digital age. What are the changes facing labor and the concept of work in the face of mounting digital tools and their use in almost every aspect of our lives? How has the leisure-work ratio shifted? How are work environments and work relationships changing? What is the meaning of co-working and how does the integration of “the machine” affect the traditional definition of “human”? How do such changes give rise to various emotional reactions?
Robert Unger will discuss the spatial and aesthetic environments in which most workers find themselves. His presentation will include thoughts on the growing influence of large corporations on American city planning, British coal mining cities, industrial cities in China, the automotive industry in Detroit, and more. In addition, Unger will discuss how urbanism, public consciousness, and spatial multi-use could benefit everyone, including employers.
Romi Mikulinsky will discuss the concept of “optimization” and will survey various methods of tracking employee movement as part of the desire to increase worker efficiency. She will present tools and models that demonstrate how work environments have been altered in the digital age, and what tools are at our disposal for resisting surveillance in the workplace.
Joshua Simon will talk about “Shockwork” and post-Fordism and will present historic conceptions of labor, including social networks today and the Soviet coal miner, Alexei Stahnob, who become a Socialist icon following his tremendous productivity.
Tahal Frosh will discuss labor structures in the 21st century as they are presented in Israeli literature.
About the speakers:
Tahel Frosh is an Israeli poet, journalist, performance artist, and researcher of Israeli literature. She is a PhD candidate in the Literature Department of Ben-Gurion University. Frosh has performed and lectured in numerous art, poetry, and academic conventions and festivals, and published literary and academic works in various publications such as Odyssey, Mafteakh, Maayan, and Panim. Her first poetry book, Avarice (2014), was published by the Bialik Institute and garnered much critical acclaim.
Romi Mikulinsky is a lecturer at the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design and a research fellow at LINKS I-CORE, the Israeli Center for Research Excellence. Dr. Mikulinsky researches, writes, and lectures on the future of reading and writing as well as on the various interactions of words and images, texts, codes, and communities in the information age. She has worked with various start-up companies and media websites, and served as the Director and Creative Director of The Shpilman Institute for Photography.
Joshua Simon is Director and Chief Curator at MoBY – Museums of Bat Yam. He is co-founding editor of Maayan Magazine which focuses on literature, poetry, and ideas, Maarvon (Western) – New Film Magazine, and The New & Bad Art Magazine, all based in Tel Aviv-Jaffa. Simon was a 2011-2013 fellow at the Vera List Center for Art and Politics, The New School University, New York. Recent books he edited include: Solution 196-213: United States of Palestine-Israel (Sternberg Press, 2011), and the monograph Ruti Sela: For the Record (Archive Books, 2015). Simon is the author of Neomaterialism (Sternberg Press, 2013).
Robert Ungar is the co-founder of the Onya collective and teaches at the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design’s Architecture Department. The Onya collective is comprised of architects, designers, and various creative activists working to integrate nature within urban areas. The collective takes part in various artistic, technological, and community initiatives including at Artport, the Cities Summit – Tel Aviv, Musrara Mix, community gardens, and White Night – Tel Aviv. The collective is based out of Tel Aviv’s central bus station, which serves as a laboratory for placemaking and sustainable, collaborative urbanism.
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