Long performance
Oct. 05-Nov. 06, 2023.
Office/studio set, laptop, prints on acetate.
Environmental dimensions.
Platea - Palazzo Galeano, Lodi IT
Curated by Niccolò Giacomazzi and Benedetta Monti.
Ph. Alberto Messina and Matteo Cavalieri
Groupware is a long performance held from October 6 to November 5, 2023. Throughout the period, from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m., inside a temporary office complete with every benefit, the artist devoted herself to obsessive research into current systems of labor exploitation and self-exploitation. The materials studied and selected were returned to the public both physically, through acetate prints posted daily on the window, and online, through a website dedicated to the project.
The set design and constant presence of the artist, visible to the viewer beyond the storefront, recalled a screen, evoking the contemporary imagery of endless work time, fueled by the perpetual availability and availability that often deprives the subject of his or her free time. The surfeit of information that gradually filled the windows was a testament to the heated and constant debate around the issue, thus configuring itself as an endless archive capable of raising awareness and questioning users, but without offering a solution to the problem.
The term "groupware" is used to describe those computer programs, usually employed in business, that facilitate collaboration among users to achieve a common goal.
Books and essays reviewed during the month of performance.
Acetates printed and attached to glass containing research abstracts for the public.
Groupware's constantly updated website that collects a visual archive of research. Visitors can contact the artist to contribute to the research via a special button.
Disguise into a kawaii geek girl. October 13, 2023.
Break area.
Berardi F., Disertate, Timeo (Palermo), 2023.
Disguise into a person wearing pajamas in smartworking.
October 20, 2023.
Disguise as a call center. October 27, 2023.
Skeleton halloween disguise. October 31, 2023.
Finissage. November 5, 2023.
"Still the last task before drowning in evasion. One-way effectiveness, existential mirroring, input overload.
"Defect!" It says on a cover at the back of the room. But from what?
From this incessant self-exploitation that engages my mind day and night? From what they say is an impossible revolution?
From such responsibilities as demeaning as they are foreign?
(Shakes head)
I carry with me a trove of tense moments motivated by the chorus that presides in my mental room.
(Stares into the void, sinks into thoughts).
Repetitive movements, automatic, useful, easy, comfortable, seen from the outside this reality becomes passive entertainment, nothing exceptional or hard to digest happens.
They tell me it is due to the successes to be achieved and I tell myself of the failures that I must turn into triumphs.
In building my tomorrow I am destroying my present.
(Clenches fists, stretches fingers).
The time has come, I must get out of here. Exploitation is loading ink but my paper no longer absorbs. I refuse to continue living, in an alienating condition between the bulimia of dictated assignments and the pressure of unbalanced deadlines toward nervous exhaustion. I feel out of it. Yes, I am fucking out of it.
But how will I cope with the loneliness and other anxieties that will befall me if I am left with no one? Perhaps, I must continue to worship the system.
(Sighs resignation)
Well, and then it will really never end, I will really never leave.
(Shakes head)
I carry with me a trove of tense moments motivated by the chorus that presides in my mental room.
(Stares into the void, sinks into thoughts)
Repetitive movements, automatic, useful, easy, comfortable, seen from the outside this reality becomes passive entertainment, nothing exceptional or hard to digest happens.
They tell me it is due to the successes to be achieved and I tell myself of the failures that I must turn into triumphs.
In building my tomorrow I am destroying my present.
(Clenches fists, stretches fingers)
The time has come, I must get out of here. Exploitation is loading ink but my paper no longer absorbs. I refuse to continue living, in an alienating condition between the bulimia of dictated assignments and the pressure of unbalanced deadlines toward nervous exhaustion. I feel out of it. Yes, I am fucking out of it.
But how will I cope with the loneliness and other anxieties that will befall me if I am left with no one? Perhaps, I must continue to worship the system.
(Sighs resignation)
Well, and then it will really never end, I will really never leave."
Niccolò Giacomazzi and Benedetta Monti.
Last sheet attached to the window containing a final letter of resignation.
