MODULE 5. Works

WORK: PRECARIOUS MASSES
From 17 to 26 May 2023

For the social majorities, throughout modern history jobs have been synonymous with social integration, with a sort of universal guarantee for social advancement and against the risk of impoverishment. However, with the socio-political dynamics of recent decades, based on neoliberal forms of thinking and practice, these securities have disappeared. We are in the era of job insecurity, which is increasingly leading to a society with vast inequalities, low levels of unity and very little hope, and many authors agree that the lack of action to combat these inequalities and address contemporary challenges nurtures populist movements and discourses that wear down democratic values.

This situation leads us to imagine a horizon without inequalities in which all people can live lives worth living. A horizon that has generated numerous proposals, such as universal basic income, or new forms of economy that place people at the centre and focus on social justice, or that put financial markets at the service of social, job-related and well-being policies as well as the redistribution of employment.

The agents that operate in the field of research, production and dissemination of art and culture have long defended measures to find a way out of precariousness, a precariousness that is structural, a precariousness that is life-threatening and against which we must fight collectively. From this module we want to propose an analysis and reflection on the precariousness that goes beyond the casuistry of cultural work to identify reparation strategies that contribute to reducing the precariousness and inequalities of contemporary society.

Tutor: Rafael Borràs

Wednesday 17 May

4 pm – 6 pm: Presentation and introduction to the module

7 pm – 9 pm: Public conference with Sandro Mezzadra

Thursday 18 May

4 pm – 5 pm: Conversation/coffee with Sandro Mezzadra

5 pm – 8 pm: Seminar and workshop with Daniel G. Andújar and Martha Rosler

Friday 19 May

4 pm – 8 pm: Seminar and idea-sharing session with Ibrahim Mahama, Daniel G. Andújar and Martha Rosler

Wednesday 24 May

4 pm – 8 pm: Presentation and introduction to the Laboratory. Intervention 1. With Paola Lo Cascio, Isabell Lorey and Luis Navarro Monedero

Thursday 25 May

4 pm – 8 pm: Collective research project. Interventions 2 and 3. With Paola Lo Cascio, Isabell Lorey, Luis Navarro Monedero and Ibrahim Mahama

Friday 26 May

4 pm – 8 pm: Collective research project. Intervention 4. With Isabell Lorey, Luis Navarro Monedero and Ibrahim Mahama