Kalopsia, 2017
Materials: reclaimed mirrors, metal armature, intermittent sound from tumble dried cut crystal vases
Spending lengths of time researching, reflecting and locating the concerns of my practice, at times it is difficult to grasp the imperceptible movements that take effect when there is no instrumental evidence to measure it by or, when small shifts that may at first appear insignificant, require time to unfold and reflect their impact.
At the end of the text How to be an Artist by Night, by RAQS Media Collective [1], in Art School: Propositions for the 21st Century, published in 2009, RAQS refer to ‘non-instrumental activities’ as the freedom of ‘reflexivity’ outside ‘the logic of production’, which they consider to be a ‘refuge’ from ‘productive tension’.
Defining ‘immaterial cultural goods’ as being ‘inseparable’ and essential to an art practice, RAQS refer to ‘quality of time…as a vessel and receptacle of reflection’ and use the word ‘trajectory’ to describe a force that can direct the artist into ‘unintentional’ and ‘unpredictab[le]’ destinations.
Referring to an artist as someone who ‘…by night, in dreams, recovers what the ‘no-collar’ worker has lost by day, RAQS defends the requirement of artists who need to make necessary ‘conditions and initiat[e]…networks of solidarity and sociality that enable the making of art’, which they describe as the ‘the world opening itself up’.[2]
On reflection of RAQS division of the artists day and night roles, if we jump ahead just three years, it is clear that building social networks has become equally as important to digitally led businesses and their ‘no-collar’ workforce, since the consumer has become more socially involved in moral ethics, the community, the global economy and sustainability. With every new advancement made within social media, digital platforms such as; Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, are tools which form a network of shared experiences through perspectives that interconnect and continuously expand.
In relation to the 2012 article Meet the no-collar workers, Nicola Clarke defines the birth of the ‘no-collar’ workforce as having been led by the current social media boom, which she defines as having restructured the hierarchical ‘top-down culture’ formerly graded upon credentials and categorised into ‘white-collar’ and ‘blue-collar’ workers.
Referencing the Global Management consultancy firm McKinsey, Clarke reflects upon ‘crowdsourcing’ as a ‘strategy’ that has ‘moved past outdated hierarchies to better embrace [a] workforce’, that, she states; has ‘developed leaders at all levels…empowering the potential of everybody’, through ‘radical inclusion and egalitarianism’.
Clarke references Jane Asscher; managing partner and chairman of creative agency 23red, as referring to the term ‘cultural consumption’ as being the ‘key to any experience and connectivity’ and highlights how the skill of knowing how to engage with your ‘audience’ through ‘work as well as the wider world – has never been more vital to business success’.
Clarke next references Henry Mason; head of research and analysis at consumer trends firm Trendwatching, as referring to the credentials of ‘social currency’ and ‘the success of social businesses’ being due to the ‘Millennials…looking to…work with or for, brands that make a difference to society’, alongside Helen Rose; senior director of research and insight at MTV’s parent company Viacom, who refers to ‘the value of Millennials both in the workplace and as consumers’ as a ‘generation that was taught at an early age that their opinion matters’, which Clarke draws on to reflect upon the ‘company brand’ as having had to develop new ‘rules of engagement’, driven by social confidence and new expectations of being ‘listen[ed] to and respect[ed]’.
Turning to the recent success of the social industry ‘blogging’ and the social currency of this self-generated industry, in the article ‘On Young Industries (Part 1) Blogging’, Elsie Larson refers to this ‘rapidly-evolved’ industry as ‘unpredictable’, stating; ‘If you can dream it, it’s probably possible’. And highlighting the dynamic freedom and growth experienced through her own blogging business, Larson notes ‘As we get older, get interested in new things, and have a spark for new opportunities we’re able to take our blog in any direction that we want’. Considering this business as having ‘no formal route of education that can help you secure a job in this field’ as ‘there are no career guidelines that we have to follow’, Larson iterates, that to work within this mode of production you require to undertake ‘continually evolving groundwork’, defining the blogger as having to make their ‘own rules’ and ‘guide’ their own ‘careers in the direction we’d like them to go’.[4]
[1] RAQS Media Collective are Jeebesh Bagchi, Monica Narula & Shuddhabrata Sengupta
[2] Steven Henry Madoff. ‘Art School: (propositions for the 21st Century)’. MIT Press Ltd. 2009. p71-81
[3] Nicola Clarke. ‘Meet the no-collar workers’. Online Source: http://”http://www.campaignlive.co.uk/article/1136886/meet-no-collar-workers”>http://www.campaignlive.co.uk/article/1136886/meet-no-collar-workers. June 2012. Source Date: Dec 2016
Clarke characterizes ‘Millenials’ as being born ‘into an online world…between 1980 and 2000’.
[4] Elsie Larson, Emma Chapman. ‘A Beautiful Mess’. Online Source: http://www.abeautifulmess.com/about-elsie.html. Source cited: Dec 2016