What is the value of rest in the age of late capitalism? And who claims ownership over certainty in a reality that seems so precarious, where the non-stop pace of life often demands more than the traditional hours of daylight can offer? We are increasingly pushed into collective insomnia by the grips of the global economy, technological expansion, and information extractivism. Under the premise of tailored living and comfort-economy, clear constructs of work performance are removed and workspaces are hybridized, while at the same time our internal clocks are blurring the boundaries between autonomy and control, rest and productivity, automation and life.
Work-life imbalances are familiar to many, and side effects of ambitious, fast-paced lifestyles – such as overworked mentality and burnout — are embedded in our late-capitalist condition. Are we now ready to slowly start grieving late capitalism and its invasive yet ephemeral form of imagination, almost as a post-relationship grief that is needed before entering the healing stage of one’s life?
Nocturnalities: Bargaining Beyond Rest delves into the politics of rest within the European art world and aims to contextualize themes of sleep, exhaustion, anxiety, and precarity within the realms of cultural labour, knowledge production, and cultural institutional operations.
This anthology, conceptualized, curated and edited by Andrea Knezović and Agata Bar, presents different reflections and knowledge exchanges related to public and intimate care strategies through a collection of critical essays, artworks, and institutional statements from various cultural perspectives. Situated within the professional domains of cultural work, it examines the current global cultural politics, its legislative implications, and associated discourse. This book also looks at how technology can assist care urgencies and needs, and how we can use or appropriate care methodologies in capitalism and create little oases of comfort and exchange.
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EDITED BY:
Andrea Knezović & Agata Bar
WITH WRITTEN CONTRIBUTIONS BY:
Tia Čiček
Rasha Dakkak & Agata Bar
Silvio Lorusso
Meghana Karnik
Andrea Knezović
Katia Krupennikova
Ángels Miralda
Laura Mrkša &
Sepp Eckenhaussen
Titus Nouwens
Rita Ouedraogo
Katja Praznik
Angeliki Tzortzakaki
Eloïse Vo
WITH VISUAL CONTRIBUTIONS BY:
Yamuna Forzani
Hackers & Designers × MELT
Anouk Hoogendoorn
Aurélien Lepetit
Baratto & Mouravas
Finnegan Shannon
Mario Santamaria
Werker
WITH INSTITUTIONAL CONTRIBUTIONS BY:
A Tale of a Tub
Casco
de Appel
Stroom den Haag
Hotel Maria Kapel
Kunsthuis Syb
Shimmer
W139
PUBLISHED BY:
Onomatopee Projects, Eindhoven, the Netherlands
Jesse Muller & Natasha Rijkhoff
GRAPHIC DESIGN:
Miquel Hervás Gómez
