Re:Tooling Precarity

http://re-tool.tumblr.com/tagged/

so this is a series of events intended to be provocation

precarity is a life without certainty, underemployment etc

how can we recosntrcut out professino how van we speculate about the preent how can we access the present issues in a new way

David Frain

Theres nothing like being told precarity is actually your cool lifestyle the gig economy has become a euphemism for precarity we should be careful about romanticising the idea of a poor artist

whos responsible for protecting people from precarity? since the borth of neo liberalism, the state is no longer deemed responsoble for provifing people with secure emplyment, this falls to the individual the main ay we are told to do that is by investing in our emplymenability, shaping ourselves into something an employer might want to hire, learn how to project the right kind of personality entrpreneurialism is no longer limited to business enepreneurs the thing about emplymenability is that you can never be good enough, it becomes like this constant war on yourself

had a job to interview 12 yos about an anti smoking programme 12 yo said it would look good on his cv were force to package out experiences to be good for a job interview you have to tell this convincing story about what you do, it becomes a performance everything you do becomes cv material But there are more reasons we do stuff, friendship, fun etc - precarity pushes these in the background

the struggle for survival in a precarious world is making us loose our souls

Decolonise your mind do things for other reasons than economic activity, be annoyed at shit opportunities stopping to worry about emplymenability can be dangerous

what can we do counteract precarity bust your boss, precarious workers brigade basically fuck you pay me ge rid of the assumption that if you enjoy your work its not really work

we're loosing talent by not giving people teh opportunity and the recources to work on their artist universal basic income would free artists o trying to sell their work, less pressure to tailor work to mainstream sentiment

thoughts

I think a lot of this has to be blamed on ourselves, years of referring to ourselves as "creatives", pretending we're somehow special not part of the normal economy. "Creative" isn't a job. "Graphic Designer" is a job. People go nto the world with the expectation, art schools create the expectation that artists won't have to take part in business meetings, selling work is really frowned upon. Really I see myself as a craftsman rather than an artists, and plumbers don't seem to have any trouble asking for money. I do support UBI, but in the short term a bit of pragmatism might be helpful. design is a job seems relevant here

2

film about germans kamera lauft, kleines posfordischtisches drama, 2004

so this was used in different context, exhibition, workshops as a starting ponint to have adebate aobut precarious labour

deriving from second wave feminism

kpd collective are having conversation about work life, how does your life look, hwat do you do when it all becomes to much - militant research result is a 30 minute pseudo reality-show

self-precarisation the condition of self-activity in the expoitative working and living conditions of neoliberal post-fordist capitalism

post-fordist capitalism rights and protections of the workforce under fordist capitalism were removed, more part-time labour, more franchising new type of economy doesnt really produce objects, more about ideas, communication, this new form of labout requires communication skills, innovation, creativity. Individuals are not only defined by what they produce, but also how they produce themselves. Production becomes are sort of performance. Work becmes the representation of itself. people in culture and design industry, self motivated people were presented as new role models if you're able to work anytime and anywhere, it becomes difficult to ever stop work

characters in the film believe that self-precarisation will allow them to get diverse skills, grow persinally. people wouldnt give up this life even if it's debilitating. People almost become employees of their own micro-enterprise.

how can freelancers and cultural workers become political actors? A lot of theorising about precarity can be quit diagnostic and moaning. Even though self-emplyment is a communicative social form of working, it does not correlate to political freedom, shared freedom. More about individual freedom. No collective politizisation.

altgen

http://altgen.coop/ https://twitter.com/altgen101

A solution to create work for people after graduation

a bit of personal experiences studied art and desing in france, came to manchester to do a MA thought i had done everything right, had done internships but didn't really have a say in the studio i was working. Didn't want to wait 10 years to become part of the decision makers freelance seemed like a good option, but ended up doing loads of work for small business she didn't really care about. Ended up taking a fixed job in marketing for a university, ran up against hierarchy. Had imagined a workplace that allowed participation, ownership and such (then don't work for a university) eventually left. Did a PHP, didn't enjoy working alone on it. Became politizised, started thinking aobut work cooperative and stuf. realised the problem wasn't her but the system i guess.

altgen is set up for 18-35 yos to avoid unemployment in young people etc. Work with people to set up their own groups. Not enough meaningful work around, not enough charities to go around (i guess commercial work isnt meaningful)

A way to keep cients away from the work? The coop is a way to create and share work we are passionate while allowing us to have decent life. Flat hierarchy, but how is this different from a design studio?

coops were really big in the 70s, magnum is organised as a coop people organising themselves to solve issues that come up

http://cultural.coop/