LABOUR RELATIONS: ANNOTATIONS ON PRODUCTIVITY AND SOLIDARITY

The aim of this project is to develop a method of annotation to explore the interdisciplinary relationships between art and economics. The thematic focus of the research is the concept of labor and the forms and mechanisms of inequality within it. A central question woven into the exploration of inequality is the extent to which societal notions of productivity and solidarity contribute to these inequalities. Within the framework of this project, case studies from both disciplines will be selected and organized as an assemblage. Each case study will be deeply annotated, followed by the identification of connections along these annotations. The goal is to understand how the world of labor can be better represented, analyzed, and discussed by integrating both disciplines. Mathematical-statistical approaches will be combined with artistic methods to investigate how this intersection can foster expanded discourse. The analysis and interweaving will also occur on the representational level. While economic analyses often operate with large datasets and diagrammatic images, artistic practices frequently engage with micro-narratives and constructed visual and auditory settings. I aim to explore how the combination of these two approaches creates the opportunity to operate on multiple levels, offering a space for multiperspectivity. How can these levels be layeredon the one hand, as abstract numerical data where specific relationships and ratios are expressed through numbers, and on the other hand, through spatial-aesthetic and symbolic dimensions, where the working body and its spatial settings are acknowledged as part of the analysis? The project seeks to contribute to the theoretical discourse on productivity and solidarity. It critically examines the commonly accepted causal relationships between social milieus and the corresponding forms of productivity, while investigating the underlying inequalities. In this context, the concepts of equality and solidarity are re-evaluated, and new perspectives and approaches are developed. The intermedial annotation process, situated both within and between disciplines, is intended not only to provide theoretical insights but also to make a methodological contribution. The annotation method is employed with the specific goal of generating new knowledge in the fields of political economy, arts-based research, and art theory, while further advancing the interdisciplinary connection.