Play Time
Artistic Research, Sound
May-Oct 2024
Play Time is an interactive installation that reimagines
the office space as a site for fostering connection rather
than division. It critiques the banality and isolating
nature of a plain, semi-enclosed desk by hacking office
tools and furniture, turning into musical instruments.
The project originates from how a workspace can be confronting for Immigrant workers since it can be
a space for microaggressions and isolation related to factors such as gender, race, language barriers and differences in work culture. For those whose legal status relies on hard-to-attain work visas, the challenges at a workplace can be especially difficult.
Inspired by the historical role of music in unionising workers and subverting oppressive working conditions, Play Time encourages collective moments where office workers can come together and play music. A jam session operates non-hierarchically and is less focused on individual outcomes than collective experience, therefore it not only confronts the prevailing quiet, hierarchical, individualistic, and productivity-centric office culture, but also fosters worker solidarity.
Exhibited at Dutch Design Week 2024, photo documentation by Angelina Nikolayeva
The project originates from how a workspace can be confronting for Immigrant workers since it can be
a space for microaggressions and isolation related to factors such as gender, race, language barriers and differences in work culture. For those whose legal status relies on hard-to-attain work visas, the challenges at a workplace can be especially difficult.
Inspired by the historical role of music in unionising workers and subverting oppressive working conditions, Play Time encourages collective moments where office workers can come together and play music. A jam session operates non-hierarchically and is less focused on individual outcomes than collective experience, therefore it not only confronts the prevailing quiet, hierarchical, individualistic, and productivity-centric office culture, but also fosters worker solidarity.
Exhibited at Dutch Design Week 2024, photo documentation by Angelina Nikolayeva
