Fotograf Magazine

Post-industrial society has lost its grip on notions of work, rest and
leisure. The rise of immaterial labour has been met with a growing
optimisation of the individual, a continuous variable with multiple
presences and temporalities. The prevalent tide of mixed, private –
professional engagement forces us to be always, in all ways, switched
on. What does this mean for our intimate lives, our privacy and our
integrity? Our needs and desires are changing, as are our values. Well,
the signs, the prospects, the indications are good. ‘Good for what and
for whom?’ Ask the objects that surround us, that serve us and distract
us on a daily basis. Objects that perform so that we can, too. They
help us tend to our delicate, docile bodies so that we can stay in the
race, multi-tasking and mobile. Carefully compartmentalised, even our
tears are ergonomic these days. Kinesio tape on the shoulder replaces
a warm hand, a touch helping us keep it together. As technologies of
self-regulation and exploitation are condensed and dispersed through
our mental, emotional and physical lives, we’d better stay on the good
side of these gadgets and tools.

Miriam Stoney