A visual exploration of the transition from the Western industrial labour of the 1800s to the ‘immaterial’ office labour of the 3rd millenium.
The film is split into 3 acts mirroring the stages of the production of a modern computer and was originally meant for projection across three screens:
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Mining, whereby footage of virtual mining in computer games such as Minecraft and Skyrim is intercut with real footage of mineral mining in Africa.
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Industry, whereby virtual ‘work’ in games is intercut with real factory workers in China constructing computers.
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The ‘immaterial’ labourer, who, sweltering in an office over the modern computer apparatus by day, by night recreates many of the repetitive labour processes of the industrial era in the virtual realm of games.
The original score, written for flute, saxophone, percussion, string quartet and electronics, explores the antagonism between the virtual world of electronics and the corporeal world of humans playing instruments IRL.
Work metadata
- Year Created: 2015
- Submitted to ArtBase: Saturday May 30th, 2015
- Original Url: https://vimeo.com/120103205
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Work Credits:
- Ethan_Race, Filmmaker
- Richard Hames, Composer
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