Performance Review
About
Inspired by my debilitating burnout, Performance Review explores how to take a break by pretending you are working — a question rooted in a culture where taking breaks is often only encouraged if they are increasing our productivity. The improvised performance draws from gestures of work and rest found in online forums offering advice on questions like »How can I look busy at work when I have nothing to do?«, »How do you pretend you are working?« and »What’s the easiest way to get fired?«
Filmed and re-edited from the perspective of an ever-present surveillance camera, the work activates the sculptural props from »The Office Stage«, rehearsing these gestures until looking like we are working becomes difficult to distinguish from working itself — and rest becomes difficult to distinguish from increasing our work performance.
Dimensions
3:00-minute loop, no sound
Materiality
video