Job posts 27.11.2008

The Researcher 2004-2008

The Researcher has been the latest, most intensive component of the 'Work not Working' project. In this project I have examined the role of education and the institutionalisation of culture, in supplying, distinguishing, specialising, entertaining and segregating the workforce. It is a multimedia project comprising print, photography, literature and performance, and the subject matter itself is quite complex. On the one hand the piece was created to talk about the never-ending repetition of academic jargon, and the constant need to re-educate (as I have seen it - society's way of covering over unemployment). On the other hand, through performing the piece issues of language and imperialism have come most boldly to the fore.

This is an ongoing project which won't be abandonned, but after performing 'The Longest Lecture Marathon' several times internationally, I find that I want to pick up some of the other strings that I have left loose. Some of these other strings are:

The Applicant
This is a project I began in 1993 with an application for a local hardware store. I took the role lightly, strolling into the manager's office, calmly explaining that I didn't really need the job (although I did) and that I was only there for practise (which I found out - I was - and was to get much much more). The Hardware Store Assistant project never took off, however two years later I began The Waitress project which meant that The Applicant project was temporarily on hold.

In 1997, The Applicant project took off again, with an application for an overseas camp counsellor project. The short-term Counsellor project was an exciting and pivotal point in the development of the subsequent projects. The Applicant project was interrupted several times between 1997 and 2005. However, officially as of 2005 this has been an ongoing series of dramatic performances, extensive written texts and waste bin installations.

The Bureaucrat
This began in 1998 with an office job at a well-known logistics company. The Bureaucrat operated as a series of performances 5 days a week until 2001. The performance was briefly interrupted by several months of The Student project, but as of 2002 it continued constantly until the end of 2004 in another well-known agency.
The Student
Or should I say, The 'Good' Student project began at the beginning of 2001 (The Student project in its entirety had begun in 1996), whereby I did my damned best, to be the best student possible. This was a performance that was lavished with awards and perks, and was received well by various organisations and departments.

The Work Experience Person
The Work Experience Person project was a 12 month project (2003) in which I was a serial work experience person. I started by working as a stage-hand at a well-known theatre, then turned into a journalist for a well-known television station, then transformed into an arts manager for a well-known music event, and then was re-arranged into the role of installation person and arts worker for a well-known art centre.

The Gallery Attendant
Was a project that I undertook from 2004 to 2005 in which I stood and looked at artworks, sometimes for 10 hours a day.

The Arts Worker
This was a lot more fun. In this project I stood outside events and handed out leaflets, placed posters on walls and light posts, and then finally got to serve drinks and food to artists. The Arts Worker project (2003-2005) even offered me the opportunity to occasionally see performances.

The Childcare Worker
The Childcare Worker (subtitle: I had so much fun I couldn't believe I was being paid) was a project I undertook from 1997-1998 in which I would arrive at a childcare centre took look after children whilst their parents were at work. The project went smoothly, without many hitches. The only obstacle that I remember was the "Johnny, your parents are going home without you" scenario in which one of the audience members did not want to go home after the performance.

The Waitress
The Waitress project took place at a very well-known restaurant, in which I served drinks and food, stocked up buffets, cleaned up tables, did the dishes and cleaned up at the end of the day. Sometimes drinks were spilled over customers, and the wrong orders were taken, but this added to the dramatic impact of the pieces.

The Counsellor The Counsellor project saw me walking around a building with children who did not want to be brainwashed with nature studies jargon. It also included several performances in which I, with several disabled children would go on canoing adventures around a wind-swept lake, clinging to our paddles and singing to the heavens that we would make it back to shore before sunset.

Welcome to work not working

This is a blog that is dedicated to a long running project I have been developing called "Work not Working". This performance projects takes a multi-levelled approach to looking at work from the perspectives of changing roles (changing faces), class and status and issues of unemployment and marginalisation.

Over the next few months I will be updating this blog with material and thoughts related to work, not working. So, if you're interested in issues of employment, and would like to discuss your views regarding any of the above mentioned topics, feel free. I would like to hear from all of you.

All the best,
Rebekah