Hoe kunnen we de toekomst van werk in tussenruimtes opnieuw uitvinden? ¹⁾

De plaats en betekenis van werk verandert voor ons allemaal en dat grijpt diep in op de manier waarop we ons leven (kunnen) inrichten. Nieuwe technologie zorgt voor problemen zowel als voor oplossingen, schept mogelijkheden en beperkingen. Wanneer we mobiliteit en flexibiliteit volgens onze eigen normen definiëren, komen we waarschijnlijk tot andere bevindingen dan wat werk- en wetgevers voor ons in petto hebben.

Hoe kunnen we leren van elkaars ervaringen, en een uitwisseling tot stand brengen tussen verschillende sectoren die met dezelfde ontwikkelingen worden geconfron­teerd? Kunnen modellen uit de wereld van open source software of uit de kunst­praktijk helpen om na te denken over de toekomst van werk?

Hoe kunnen we sociaal-maatschappelijke noden en verlangens een plek geven op onze (digitale) werkvloer? “Shakespeare's toneelstukken bijvoorbeeld lijken volledig zelfstandig te zijn. Maar als het web scheefgetrokken wordt, doorgeprikt in het midden, vastgepakt aan de rand, dan herinner je je dat deze webben van fictie niet in het luchtledige gesponnen zijn, maar het werk zijn van menselijk zwoegen, en verbonden zijn aan deprimerende materiële zaken zoals gezondheid, geld en het huis waar we in wonen.”²⁾

Neem een kunstenaar, een kunstenares, een 'cultureel werker v/m', een kunstbe­mid­delaar. Is zij in wezen een huismoeder, een zelfstandig ondernemer, programmeur, een free-lancer, een grafisch ontwerpster, een werkneemster? Verkoopt ze, levert ze een dienst, vrijwillig, in opdracht, dienstverband, kort- of langlopend, produceert ze een werk, een kind, een oeuvre, BTW-verplichtende activiteiten… Is zij behalve dit alles, nog meer?

Comment pouvons-nous réinventer l'avenir de travail dans les intervalles ? ³⁾

L'endroit et la signification du travail changent pour nous tous et cela intervient profondément à la façon dont nous (pouvons) aménageons(er) notre vie. La nouvelle technologie entraîne autant de problèmes que de solutions, crée des possibilités et des restrictions. Quand nous déterminons la mobilité et la flexibilité selon nos propres normes, nous arrivons alors probablement à d'autres constatations que ce que les employeurs et les législateurs préparent. Comment pouvons-nous apprendre des expériences réciproques, et réaliser un échange entre différents secteurs qui sont confrontés avec les mêmes développements ? Les modèles du monde de logiciel open source ou ceux des pratiques artistiques, aident-ils à penser l’avenir de travail ?

Comment pouvons-nous donner une place aux besoins sociaux et désirs du travail (digital) ? «les pièces de Shakespeare, par exemple semblent être suspendues tout naturellement sans aucune aide.Mais quand la toile est tirée sur le côté, arrachée sur ces bords, déchirée en son milieu, on se souvient que ces toiles ne sont pas tissées dans le vide par des créatures incorporelles mais sont l'oeuvre d'une humanité souffrante et liée à des choses grossièrement matérielles, tels la santé, l'argent et les maisonsoù nous vivons.»⁴⁾

Prenons un artiste, ‘un travailleur culturel h/f ’, un-e médiateur-trice artistique. Est-elle au fond une femme au foyer, un-e travailleur-euse indépendant-e, un-e programmeur-euse, un-e free-lance, un-e graphiste, une salariée ? Elle vend, elle procure des services, volontairement, pour le compte de quelqu’un, en contrat de travail, à court ou à long terme, elle produit un travail, un enfant, une oeuvre, des activités assujetties à la TVA… Est-elle est encore plus que cela ?

L’ intermédiaire interdisciplinaire qui s’est élu lui-même, quitte le théâtre du cube blanc brillant avec soulagement, et entraîne le discours artistique contemporain dans la réalité du 21e siècle. Nous nous accommodons de la définition légale du métier d'artiste, ou nous provoquons les législateurs pour qu'ils se mettent au diapason de la réalité ?

Les conditions d’interdisciplinarité, de recherche et de création entre les domaines et les disciplines suivent la manière dont les artistes et les réalisateurs de culture contemporains utilisent les genres, les médias, les endroits et les disciplines. Cette réalité existe bien en pratique, mais pas encore dans la législation. De différentes relations de travail découlent différentes sortes de contrats et de climats de travail. Plus de liberté signifie une comptabilité plus complexe, plus de flexibilité signifie des régimes de retraite confus. Notre système n'est pas approprié aux pratiques complexes qui entraînent le fonctionnement entre les genres, les disciplines et les statuts. Comment pouvons-nous rendre cette complexité visible, sans retomber dans une recherche sociologique ? Comment pouvons-nous intégrer ces sujets dans notre travail, sans retomber dans la prétention terriblement ennuyeuse, tout en conservant la même flexibilité, liberté, variation dans l'environnement de travail que nous avons choisi ?

Notes en Cadavre Exquis (PDF document)

Idee de genie is niet: brain storm

Database processing: we don't fit the database – how do the categories work for us?

It is sometimes really practical.

So… the question is… what is an artist?

One point is to confront the system with the reality… how can you do that without unveiling those that play the system? Are in-between practices possible when the system is clear?

Laurence: Ina Wutke - explaining the whole job. The difficulty is… when it gets disconnected from other types / kinds of work

Working for the love of it… what do we make with love?

Is the artist the model capitalist worker (creative class)

If we want to make it differently… what can we do?

Isabelle: Relation between art and criticality, is that it part of it?

Peter: we wanted to think about a guide … the flexibele mens als script for a performance. Software art is an interesting example.

Laurence: imagine software art is recognized by the taxes… would it finally end up in the Brussels' galleries?

The only way to make your academic work concrete … is a phd.

ID: even as an artist, when you want to 'level up': you need a degree. It is interesting to see what thatcould bring.

NM: for me the limit of the Cuisine Interne approach is that everyone answers… I find workarounds… But if you find tricks, how can you build / participate in something that brings solidarity.

We can manage to play whatever / whoever we are but… you are mostly parasitic and I don't like that. I would like to engage in a system that supports a collective system.

ID: But is that not a professionalisation of the same parasitic way?

NM: It means that you support others, even when you are succesful.

Theatre has another structure… a corporal (?) system.

Theatre: you sell your sweat is what is sold.

The artist statuut… de cachet regel / houthakkers regel.

What is recognized is mainly defined as

actor, writer, designer, cook … film and muxic work the same. It doesn't work for programming … It works only when you work for others

The principle is that when you make something sellable, it is not under the artist statute. The recognizes that you are working even when you are not paid.

Do artists always make things that can be sold.

How do you get enough jobs to get out of it.

PW: And internationally… this does not work!

AM: this has an effect on the way art works!

it strongly re-frames the way you work.

what is preparation and what not…

what is the considered as working time, and what not. you are not un-employed… are you?

the artist-status is renewned every year. but there's things not clear.

PROBLEMS IN IMPLEMENTATION

* You are represented by unions that do not know what is going on. * other orgs do not know how to deal with this

In the end SMART is the one to interpret all this / to care enough to read the law.

NM: The problem of SMART is that it is a mechanism for solidarity. The solidarity in theater works because the border of the sector needs to be very tight and how exclusion and solidarity are related.

But the thing is … in SMART you don't need to be an artist to be part of the system.

For example: they make sure I am being paid within 10 days.

LR: SMART is interesting that it brings together people that are self-employed. You pay on top of the RSZ – from this the advance is paid and the pot is filled.

But… where is SMART?

QUESTIONS TO SMART

* How do they define art? * Is SMART changing the way we work for the better? * How do they explain the VAT rules ( animation = Flash? ) * What happens when you get famous / rich / …? (most people leave SMART – compare to Theatre?) * Can SMART be for ever? * How old is SMART? How old is the average SMART'er * Is their international expansionism a problem or not? * Their relation to 'Official SBK's' such as Randstad. * Problem with ambiguous status (still?)

They are experimenting with the law… Harrisson problem?

QUESTIONS TO THE TAX OFFICE

* is a vegetable the same as an artwork * what is the reasoning behind the tax jump… it is difficult to be a small independent. SMART is step-up.

NICC

* Corporatists: artists for artists.

There are more writers now being performative. For writing you cannot get an Artist Statuut. And the reader?

Kunstendecreet is a form of solidarity?

Talking to Kunstenloket is a good way to get a grip.

Is there something possible such as multiple solidarity possible?

Loyalty = solidarity?

when did art become a luxury? the accesories A biblo > an ornament

how can it feed / be food / without becoming economised …

when art can be copied… the private ownership, you need to organise scarcity.

NM: Kleiner critiqued creative commons… he wrote about the limitation of the free software model. Free Software is interesting, but as soon as it is embedded in other hardware and that money never goes back into the community that produced it. Where the FS lacks is that it can not deal with where there is no software, where it goes into scarcety. There the limit of the model is.

LR: If we think for us… we trust our partners = Flemish Government?

What we can / are doing is vocabulary

PW: the system of Free Software is clear, but where it meets other systems? where is the problem?

You make an effort, you discover the problem. The scarce value is time, not the problem.

Who can afford to spend time – but a lot of work is done on free time, that can be exported to a company. But where can we export the work to.

The client needs to participate in the process. Solidarity with the client. / other relations

Working with donations?

If you look at MYSQL… the software is GPL. They also have a proprietary version. They have someone whitewashing the code… They interviewed mr. MYSQL – Free Software is the best model for capitalism

It is still free, it is well supported?

That is the limit of the model? Or the limit of the possibilities?

Debian has a social contract… but MYSQL is still inside Debian.

Free Hardware movement. It is interesting: Eben Moglan (mr. GPL)

Sell your friends at a better price!

How to make a living… the bio shop next door: to guarantee quality… how to avoid creative industries, venture communism. Free software design is a scarcety… it will help us a little while.

It makes it compulsary to make the work visible.

Performing the process of getting something (apple, design) becomes the product. The added value. It is a surplus.

The beauty of the license … it is back into the community

Farran (El Buli) explained that he can now afford to be a luxury. He can afford to experiment and make public what he has done.

ID: It is interesting to see leftist architecture discourse… it is supposed to perform it's functionality, but there is a surplus, a brand name… a split in the discourse in architecture: the context is where the surplus is distributed to. It is not the glamour. But… that is not what is paid for; also museums… how much public money is there? A lot of private money goes there.

Neo-marxists think that quality cannot come from anywhere else than the state.

NM: neo marxist approaches to … ID: neo critical stance.

NM: If you need a whole system … the chain needs to be closed… Where do you start? Can you begin?

ID: it works in theory, but in practice? It excludes practice to begin with

NM: the distinction M makes between alternative within and without?

Capitalism is leaking too! It is not stable, never has been… it is why it works so well!

The defectiveness of Windows creates more jobs than Free Software (it is a false comparison)

we need bleed … we don't want to close the circle.

LR: how do people use things… usages can make…

LD: how to validate other kinds of work, use, … if you don't want to close the boundaries, you need to rethink governance beyond territory but in terms of loyalty.

Loyalty enhances respect. Free licenses are about

ID: Loyalty is … there's an old book… the kingdom of Seidan… where governance was not based on “you are working in my field” but you belong to me wherever you are.

but religion? and cultural bounds?

PW: a presentation of Erik Corijn: the succes of a city is measured by how it is governed… A city as a meeting point, Brussels might be more successful. To define the city through it's network.

Being able to move things, even in your mind!

The never ending closure of the same kind butcher shop… is that a sign of self organisation? Is there other ways to help these shops?

Sometimes similarity works… It is Asterix + Obelix again.

Gids voor de tussenwerker… het is onmogelijk.

Precarious worker has sold for a while

HET PROFIEL VAN DE TUSSENWERKER

Tussenwerker is connector and a divider.

Work of the tussenwerker is negotiates and to be negotiated. You can use, abuse, change and add to the systems you work within (but can also be used).

multi- disciplinary, talented, tasking, nationality, …

Katalysator.

Diplomaat zonder land … who's work is to decide what can be compromised, what can not be compromised, and what needs to be created. Compromise is a (creative) part of the job. (is he / she God?)

Tussenwerker is a volontary inhabitant of the in-between space. work is product of circumstances. He/she is really 'Ici-Meme'

Taking care is always part of the mediation work.

creating common worlds. It is where you want to work.

If there is a difference between horizontal and vertical research, the Tussenwerker is a diagonal researcher.

The Tussenwerker is a team worker, a networker. The Tussenwerker is never alone.

Failed projects are considered a plus as long as they have contributed to the learning curve of you individually, or the community you work within.

You will be paid equally … experience … ici-meme.

DANGERS FOR TUSSENWERKERS

* Avoid Moebius circles (it looks like you move in and out, but you stay on the same surface)

NM: I am just between two things: programming and art. How many in between-nes can you handle?

ID: the system does not allow more than dichotomy … it dictates binary.

People want to have it function… something that works. They want something that functions (surplus comes after) (vgl. architecture)

PW: Between disciplines, but also between different perspectives in the same discipline.

ID: what is the meaning of your work?

LR: you can negotiate between function, aesthetics, vocabularies, … conditions of work

PW: Jacques Tardi: Ici meme / het besloten land – the gate opener that lives on the wall.

We are not in media and art to make media-art

READING LIST

Rem Koolhaas: Delirious New York

Bruno Latour: The politics of Nature.

Donna Harraway: Situated Knowledges: articulation

Jacques Tardi: Ici Meme

David Harvey: Loyalty, Governance …

Between two things or composites… diplomacy –

extensions… the end of the body is where another body starts?

How do you make sure care goes beyond you personally: system of care.