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Forthcoming October/November 2024

Not long ago we were dreaming of the promise of “advanced technology” created in the hope of extending personal leisure time and relaxation. It was free time, not “busy” time, that conferred status. In our society quite frequently we can witness that even when employees receive paid vacation time, they leave most of it unused. People commonly boast of how busy they are; as if busyness is a sign of particular merited importance. Freelancers on the other hand trade busyness for the hope of financial consistency and stability.

As contemporary techno-politics expands and invades more radically into the intimate strata, the urgency to understand its articulation and systematic impact becomes more paramount than ever. Together, Andrea Knezović and Agata Bar will dive into the prospect of a 24/7 paradigm, post-humanist late capitalism and look at different ways of understanding, approaching and dealing with politics of rest within the artistic and cultural industry. The precarious circumstances of the cultural sector and art industry are at the forefront of the labour battlefield. The main intent of this art publication is not necessarily to offer one solution to the larger inquiry but to allow a plurality of voices and contributions to be heard, expressed and remembered in this constant negotiation between what we understand as our time, rest and space and the ever-growing mechanics of trade and proprietorship.

What is rest if not the space of safety? Within this publication, we are interested in looking at how technology can assist, instead of coopting, these care urgencies and needs. How we can use or appropriate care methodologies in capitalism and create little oases of comfort, exchange and ‘communal comradeship’. We intend to explore the possibilities of translating these issues by reflecting on and combining different creative solutions, styles, professional experiences, manifestos and historical elements throughout the anthology.

The value of the project Nocturnalities: Bargaining Beyond Rest is embedded in the way it offers — local and international — different perspectives and understandings of how we relate to the politics of rest, negotiate institutional and intimate care, and imagine varieties of care systems and healing strategies within a local setting. With such artistic publication, we will contribute to the diversification of perspectives concerning labour strategies and cultural production while unpacking discursive frameworks around the 24/7 paradigm and the creative age of awake. Besides the project’s creative and aesthetic value, it will also serve as a space for a continuous inclusive dialogue that encourages the public to rethink their care strategies and our role and responsibility in reproducing healthy cultural institutional systems.

Written contributions by:

Andrea Knezović, Angeliki Tzortzakaki, Angels Miralda, Katia Krupnikova, Katja Praznik, Laura Mrkša & Sepp Eckenhaussen, Meghana Karnik, Rita Ouedraogo, Silvio Lorusso, Tia Čiček, Titus Nouwens, Eloise Vo and more.