What is the value of rest in the age of late capitalism? And who claims ownership over certainty in a reality that seems so precarious, where the non-stop pace of life often demands more than the traditional hours of daylight can offer? We are increasingly pushed into collective insomnia by the grips of the global economy, technological expansion, and information extractivism. Under the premise of tailored living and comfort-economy, clear constructs of work performance are removed and workspaces are hybridized, while at the same time our internal clocks are blurring the boundaries between autonomy and control, rest and productivity, automation and life.
Work-life imbalances are familiar to many, and side effects of ambitious, fast-paced lifestyles – such as overworked mentality and burnout — are already embedded in our late-capitalist condition. Are we now ready to slowly start grieving late capitalism and its invasive yet ephemeral form of imagination, almost as a post-relationship grief that is needed before entering the healing stage of one's life?
Nocturnalities: Bargaining Beyond Rest delves into the politics of rest within the European art world and aims to contextualize themes of sleep, exhaustion, anxiety, and precarity within the realms of cultural labour, knowledge production, and cultural institutional operations.
This anthology, edited by Andrea Knezović and Agata Bar, presents different reflections and knowledge exchanges related to public and intimate care strategies through a thoughtfully curated collection of critical essays, artworks, and institutional statements from various cultural perspectives. It situates these explorations within the professional domains of cultural work, examining the current global cultural politics, its legislative implications, and associated discourse. It also looks at how technology can assist, instead of co opting, care urgencies and needs, and how we can use or appropriate care methodologies in capitalism and create little oases of comfort and exchange.