Hyperemployment: Artists Explore the Future of Work in Ljubljana

Curated by Domenico Quaranta, the group exhibition 'Hyperemployment' at MGLC International Centre of Graphic Arts in Ljubljana examines the paradoxes of contemporary labor through the lens of technology. The term, coined by media theorist Ian Bogost, describes the exhausting condition of working with digital interfaces. Silvio Lorusso's installation greets visitors with the phrase 'Shouldn't be working?' derived from the Chrome plugin StayFocusd, highlighting procrastination. Guido Segni delegates art production to a software for five years (2018–2023), while Jonas Lund's chatbot 'Talk to me' generates a 36-volume book of conversations with help from designer Federico Antonini. Elisa Giardina Papa's videos frame sleep as a data-extraction phase, and Michael Mandiberg's 'Quantified Self Portrait (One Year Performance)' captures screenshots every 15 minutes for a year. Sebastian Schmieg portrays humans as total automata, while Sanela Jahic' uses an algorithmic entity to produce art. Danilo Correale offers a hypnotherapy recording on vinyl envisioning a post-work society. A symposium 'Automate all the things!' is scheduled for January 14–15, 2020, featuring Quaranta and exhibiting artists. The show runs until January 19, 2020.