Silvio Lorusso's 'Entreprecariat' Examines the Intersection of Entrepreneurship and Precarity in Creative Work

Silvio Lorusso's book 'Entreprecariat – Siamo tutti imprenditori. Nessuno è al sicuro' (Krisis Publishing, Brescia 2018) introduces the neologism 'entreprecariat' to describe the tight link between entrepreneurship and precarity in contemporary creative labor. Lorusso, an Italian artist, designer, and researcher based in Rotterdam, argues that workers are forced to act as entrepreneurs of themselves while facing precarious conditions, a state of 'cognitive dissonance' and collective hypnosis that turns the world into a giant start-up. The book traces a genealogy of entrepreneurial rhetoric from Richard Florida's creative class to Jeremy Rifkin's end of work and Richard Sennett's flexibility. Geert Lovink, in his introduction, notes that 'we are condemned to design our lives' and become curators of our own existence. Lorusso critiques the pathological obligation to be present and affirmed on digital social spaces, where the boundary between work and non-work dissolves. The book targets creative workers—graphic, product, speculative, social designers, curators—and highlights the reality of multiple gigs, from freelance projects to Deliveroo, and the plight of university researchers and art academy lecturers on temporary contracts. Lorusso's work aims to lift the veil of hypocrisy around labor processes, emphasizing that the risk society affects everyone, yet few are aware of being trapped in a role-playing game where real economy consists of precarious supporters of ideas.