Working Title
(last edited: 2025)
author(s): Kristin Anna Eyjolfsdottir
This exposition is in progress and its share status is: visible to all.
“Working Title” is an art performance about labor
conditions and class structures. The motivation behind the
piece is to interrogate the many ways in which work affects us. The boundaries between labor and art are also examined, as the physical and mental demands placed on the performers reflect the burdens of modern working life. The format mirrors a regular workday: the performance lasts eight hours, including a break. It is presented in two versions—a day shift and a night shift.
Today, many sectors are marked by rapid change, demands for efficiency and ever-increasing productivity. Which values are prioritised, and which are undermined to meet the needs of such a labor market? In the piece, structural challenges will be studied and observed through scenarios acted out on stage.
Some examples of questions that will be used to form these scenarios:
-At what cost do you actually sell your time?
-What kind of value is, beyond the monetary, created for those who buy your time?
-In what ways, physically and mentally, do you experience your labouring hours, after you have clocked out?
The performance will explore themes such as:
- Monotony and repetition as fundamental elements of labor
- Power dynamics in the workplace and how privileges are
maintained and reinforced
- The body’s needs in relation to work: illness, disabilities,
menstruation, and pregnancy
- The physiological consequences of labor
- The value of time as an economic and social divide
- The close link between economic stability and mental health
In a time when the job market is shaped by rapid technological development, climate change and an uncertain future, thinking through alternatives for how to organise ourselves has become crucial. With this performance, we aim to dig into the mechanisms at stake in order to hopefully be able to both raise questions and think deeply about how we may face the challenges ahead collectively. A dynamic, experimental and collectively driven form of artistic expression is combined with societal critique. We believe in art as a way of adding to the discourse in poetic manners, activating questions through embodied experiences. With this unique format, we hope to open new perspectives on what labor means for individuals and society—and what values we
wish to build our common future upon.
