Usually, I work from home.
The fantasy of it
felt better than the reality.
I sometimes think
it would actually be more productive
if I didn’t work from home,
but from somewhere outside.
Today I decided to take a trial day at Wework.
The location at the Friesgracht seems to be suitable,
it’s easy to reach.
Between the tourist centre and the hip,
expat bars and restaurants
of the district de Pijp.
The large open space
reminds me of hotel lounges
and gastronomic businesses.
The lounge area consists of Streamline sofas,
fluffy stools, coffee tables and a sideboard
with a selection of coffee table books.
The books alternate with board games
and empty shelves,
it looks like the decoration in an IKEA store.
„From subjects we have become projects“, Vilém Flusser once said in a lecture in front of engineers and architects, talking about the necessity for an anthropological turn in architecture.
Once it was a mining town
Update 2 – Back at the field, I can see clearly now. Time: 17.00 CET
"Nothing got done today" tba.
The trial day
Once this was the center of labor here, in a region covered in dark thick smog. Now, an Amazon Logistic Center opened up. The other day I saw their advertisment in the towns’ center informing the passerby, that they are looking for workers. … October 29
Once this was a mining town. Now, it’s a place like anywhere else. Today I’ll just watch the white smoke go off and sit here. Let’s meet here tomorrow, there is something I wanted to show you. October 29
Today’s worker produces immaterial experiences. His work, and thus his means of production, are composed of “language, communication, knowledge and affects” (T. Atzert, Immaterielle Arbeit?, telegraph #110 ), i.e. immateriality and no longer pure matter. October 30
He looks for his own workplace and is self-sufficient in his working hours. The main economic function is the creation of new meaningful forms – “that is, to use their expertise and skills to generate new ideas, new technologies, and new creative content.” (J. Self, Café Society, Real Review 3, 2017 ) October 30
His income does not necessarily depend on the time or work invested, but on the quality, originality and speed with which problems are solved and complicated matter is decoded. … October 30
… Compared to the worker leaving the factory, he works autonomously and mostly alone or in small teams. His career is not linear and usually does not follow clearly defined paths that lead to more responsibility and higher income. … October 30
While in modernity working conditions were characterized by a common belief in progress, expressed in a feeling of security, today’s worker experiences the pressure of global competition, enhanced by the optimization of profit balance sheets, as continuous earthquakes, repeatedly shifting the goal. October 30
The present becomes an endless challenge in free fall. Short-term employment is the trend of the future. Long-term mentality, established in a state upholding working relationships, … October 30
… strong family and social bonds has been replaced by temporarily condensed processes. Security as continuity has been replaced by skepticism. October 30
To me, it’s all leading up to one thing, which is the optimization of self. Like, we are here one time, one life… Like, how can we really, like, milk the shit out of this? – Gwyneth Paltrow
