User:Pedro Sá Couto/Reading, Writing & Research Methodologies
Assignment
Motivated by the interview format and also by how editing influences in an ultimate instance this work, I decided to watch “Gosha Rubchinskiy: In Fashion interview, uncut footage — https://WWW.youtube.com/watch?v=EFW4y5Iyh_Q”. Gosha Rubchinskiy is a russian designer, that works with fashion and his work is known for the integration of the communities that surround him. During this interview that I found, it was really difficult to understand the flow of his thoughts. Probably because of his main language, the sentences are structured in a different way from what we are used to. I felt that this could be a very good editing challenge to work with. The first pad that I’ve created is “https://pad.xpub.nl/p/question01“ it is an high fidelity transcription of the interview, in the second one “https://pad.xpub.nl/p/ question02“ I have edited the text, with personal editorial choices. It is interesting that while me being an avid consumer of magazines that mainly work around interviews, I was not able to see this raw side of the main text that it is worked on.
1st PART
Gosha Rubchinskiy: In Fashion interview, uncut footage
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EFW4y5Iyh_Q
QUESTION 01 — Transcription
It's interesting to me that you talk about that kind of yeah that feeling because I wonder did you ever feel in some ways your work is very it celebrates Russia and it celebrates your upbringing where you're from but I wonder did you ever feel frustration where you were born because often even just in England when I interview designers who didn't live in London they'll talk about like feeling so bored where they were and wishing they were you know like you say like going out and hanging out with the kind of people in the face or in ID and did you ever feel a frustration that you weren't...
mmm it's um How to say, in 90s in late 90s it was amazing time in Russia and a I never think somewhere is more interesting it was really interesting to be there and after of course I want to do something and yes for me was was a dream to go to London once and there and when I was like 10 years ago when I was 20 I go first time and... it knows what not what was like wow it's something crazy but anyway it was interesting for me because of many many interesting magazines sound like art books because we don't have many in Russia so mmm it was interesting for me yes some things but mm-hmm how to say I only understand it's better to do what you understand well so I know I know my city I know my community that's why when I start to do my own things I think it needs to be here to base it on these themes and I don't want to move somewhere I feel I still feel energy and feel interest in Moscow and especially in new generation and it's still good but of course I like to be somewhere else and ye ye ye
QUESTION 02 — Transcription
it's interesting what you say about you know the energy in Moscow because one of the things that I find so interesting in your work and you, can correct me if I'm wrong but I feel like it's it's kind of about different things in different levels in some way it's very much about the contemporary scene in Moscow what young kids are wearing what people are doing on the street but in on the other hand there is a real there is a historical element to it as well where it looks at yeah it looks Soviet history it looks at the kind of the cultural heritage and and even sometimes the really difficult identities of the place and its history and its perception in the world and how do you balance those two things between making it very modern and very very now but also very aware of mm-hmm of what has gone before and how that has been perceived
so I need to explain it's all because of Moscow Moscow is very huge City and crazy mix of everything so when you are in Moscow you can see like crazy mix of different styles in architecture a crazy advertising a lot of people crazy traffic and like but more a lot of energy and and especially after like 90s in mm and now mmm like many many many like cheap information and not good stuff and we start to think what is good but me and some my friends and what is good and we start to see Oh in this good and we start to see Oh in this garbage we can see wow it's beautiful building from Soviet Stalin's era all its beautiful beautiful mosaic or its beautiful art piece and that's why and and we had very at the same time we had very strong like punk and music scene in 80s in Soviet Russia so and we start to learn it how it was and some what's why I used some nostalgic things and I like to remember what what was strong what was good and we put it from from the past to show everybody had to show ourselves what was strong like what we need to do like it's it's like some standard something that and we want to want to be the same we want to be the distant art that's why I use it I want to mix things which i think suits good to my world and that's why that's why and I at the same time want to see beauty of Russia and I want to because now we live in a crazy time and a lot of like bad news and some informational war against Russia and if if I can show something good and beautiful I want to show it and that's why I put some references from the past to show and all kids expect it's a say I forget I forget this word so everyone and everyone who is young Kate they they like it they like these things and I understand understand it yes it's it's really cool we need to use it always we need to concentrate on these kind of things so it's very popular now or early Soviet art like like arches from 20s like constructivists modernists fortune Co Malevich all these kind of things and of course Stalin's architectures these amazing buildings all these very well and mixed with Soviet 80's punk music and because now it's not really interesting in Moscow it's only some only some like Russian young hip hop or techno music and people still listen some rock bands from 80s and it's good and of course young kids we respect the historical things is it you touched on.
QUESTION 03 — Transcription
I'm interested it's kind of a difficult question in some ways but maybe particularly with the clothing less so with the film and the photography but I I wonder do you see your work as political or do you see it as purely kind of aesthetic and visual because I think people read a lot of political messages into what you do but then in some ways it feels like it is just about it's quite like document like a documentary it's about recording what people are actually wearing so in that sense it is quite just image based how do you see it?
mmm for me it's um we live at the time like politic in the air everyone especially in Moscow so like crazy news everywhere in Internet in TV like in in our families that all speak politics it's crazy crazy and I feel this pressure on on the kids and ever and anyway like young kids they know what's happening in Ukrainian what's happening with Putin what's happening in the u.s.a and everyone talk about politics and that's why if I do if I want to do something real about our moment we need to put some political references and I but I feel myself like like punk and we try to use it like in punk way what we want to do let's use something let's use Russian and Chinese flag in in like Tommy Hilfiger logo way let's do it maybe and I think a what is it now to be a punk now yeah I think it's a you need to be a asap rocky like the famous hip-hop artist and perform on MTV Music Awards and russian with Russian and Chinese flags on the sweatshirt I think it he's it was amazing then I saw him perfectly performed in my sweatshirt this Flags yes no one can believe some if it can be real and like an American famous hip hop artist on the MTV Music Awards can perform in Russian and Chinese flags sweatshirt so this is it's like a play the games like jokes it's like Punk what what I I'm always trying to learn what is it to be a punk nowadays.
2nd PART
QUESTION 01 — Edited (needs to be re-edited)
Your work celebrates Russia and it celebrates your upbringing, but did you ever feel frustration from where you were born? Often even just in England while interviewing designers who didn't live in London they will talk about the feeling of being so bored where they were, wishing they were hanging out with influential kind of people in the face or in ID. Did you ever feel that kind of frustration?
How should I put this, the late 90s were an amazing time in Russia, I never thought that it could get more interesting than that, it was really interesting to be there, but of course that I wanted to do something different and for me it was a dream to go to London. 10 years ago when I was 20 I went there for the first time and it was something crazy. It was interesting because of all the different magazines and art books that could be found there, we didn't have that many in Russia. It was interesting for me but I guess that I was only able to understand it better later on. I guess it made me realise how well I know my city, my community. That's why when I start to do my own things I thought it needed to be here, based on these themes and presently I don't want to move somewhere else I still feel energy and interest in Moscow, especially in the new generation and it's still good.
QUESTION 02 — Edited (needs to be re-edited)
It is interesting what you mentined about Moscow's energy because one of the things that I find realy interesting in your work, and correct me if I'm wrong, is that it is very much about the contemporary scene in Moscow what young kids are wearing what people are doing on the street but in on the other hand there is a real historical element to it as well. How do you balance those two things between making it very modern but also very aware of what has gone before and how that has been perceived?
I should start by mentioning that Moscow is a huge city with a crazy mix of everything. When you are in Moscow you can see different styles in architecture, lots of traffic, different personalities and also a lot of energy. Especially after the 90s there was so many cheap information and negative aspects to talk about our city that along with some my friends, we started to think about what is good to promote and what was not.
We could either display all the beautiful buildings from the Soviet Stalin's era, all its beautiful mosaics or even the art pieces or we could focus at the same time on the fact that we had a very strong punk and music scene in 80s in Soviet Russia. We started to learn how to use some of these nostalgic things because we wanted people to see how distant this art was and that's why I started using it.
I wanted to mix things which i thoght that suited my aestetics and at the same time I wanted to display the beauty of Russia. Not only because now we live in a time where we are fluded with fake news but also because I guess it was created an informational war against Russia that if I am able to show the positive sides from the past to all kids I will. We need to concentrate on these kind of things as the Soviet art from the 20s, modernists, constructivists, all these kind of things and of course Stalin's architectur with its' amazing buildings. All these mixed with Soviet 80's punk music because now it's really interesting in Moscow that young hip hop or techno music people are still listening to some rock bands from 80s and this is good, as young kids we should respect the historical value of of everything that we have come across with.
QUESTION 03 — Edited (needs to be re-edited)
It's kind of a difficult question in some ways but I wonder do you see your work as political or do you see it as purely kind of aesthetic and visuals. I think people read a lot of political messages into what you do but then in some ways it feels like it is just aboutcreatinga documentary, it's about recording what people are actually wearing. But how do you see it?
We live at a time where politics are always in the air. Especially in Moscow there is a big amount of news everywhere, in the internet, in the TV, in our families that are always speaking about politics. It is crazy, and I feel this pressure on the kids, young kids already growing up and knowing what's happening in Ukrainian, what's happening with Putin, what's happening in the U.S.A. Everyone talks about politics and that's why if I want to do something real about our moment and our cultural background we need to put some political references into it. I feel like a punk and I always try to use what I produce in punk way. I try to imagine things like using a Russian and a Chinese flag in a Tommy Hilfiger logo way, and then I think that you need to have someone as an ASAP Rocky, the famous hip-hop artist, that performed on MTV Music Awards with the Russian and Chinese flags on the sweatshirt, I thought it was amazing when I saw him perfectly perform in that sweatshirt. This flags were like playing a game , like a joke and I feel like this Punk approach is what I am always trying to incorporate, what is it to be a punk nowadays.
Entreprecariat reader synopses and abstracts
Subjectivity in the "Gig Economy": From the entreprecariat to base union militancy by Jamie Woodcock
- Author: Jamie Woodcock
- Publisher and date: Pervasive Labour Union Zine #11 - The Entreprecariat, September 10th, 2017
Abstract
This article addresses the issue of the rise of the “gig-economy“ where temporary positions are endorsed instead of long-term work contracted jobs and also the relationship between this phenomenon and the digital mediated entrepreneurialism. It establishes the relationships among the development of the “gig-economy“, the digital context that this one lies in and the effect that both have on the rise of the Entreprecariat. Self-employed/independent workers are attracted for a job where they find a precarious sense of flexibility and are stuck to a platform that is in need of real demands made online. The deprivation of rights imposed to self-employed riders was used as a tool in the food-delivery sector. Workers that found themselves in this contractless situation claimed their right to organize strikes without the need to follow trade union rules.
Synopsis
Subjectivity in the “Gig Economy: From the entreprecariat to base union militancy” is an article by Jamie Woodcock published in the Issue #11 of the Pervasive Labour Union Zine from September 2017. The article addresses the issue of the rise of the “gig-economy“ where temporary positions are endorsed instead of long-term work contracted jobs and also the relationship between this phenomenon and the digital mediated entrepreneurialism. The author starts the article establishing the relationships among the development of the “gig-economy“, the digital context that this one lies in and the effect that both have on the rise of the Entreprecariat. In this precarious economy what is portrayed is that in the foundation of this contractless job positions there are employment places that provide a lot of freedom to those who are applying.
Companies created some sort of propaganda about this free space for someone with limited availability, but with the fast rise of what the author calls the “platform capitalism“ where companies outsource their work through online systems, the reality is that people are in reality in a precarious flexibility. Self-employed/independent workers are stuck to a platform that is in need of real demands made online, no minimum wages or sick pays are assured and you have to invest in your working equipment. It is interesting how this deprivation of rights was used by employers has a tool in the food-delivery sector. Workers that find themselves in this contractless situation and that are used as a company outsource claimed their right to organize strikes without the need to follow trade union rules. This strategy was only possible because, in theory, they are their self-employed. Workers who had no prior knowledge of organizing in mainstream trade unions are now taking action in their own self-union organizations.
Jamie Woodcock finishes his article raising awareness to the increase of this kind of business models and the fact that they are being used across different sectors but also bring up the fact that these self-employed people are reorganizing themselves collectively as a counter-power to work in the so-called “gig-economy“.
Original text
Contemporary work has been transformed. This can be seen most sharply with the rise of the so-called 'gig economy', which involves workers tying together of different forms of short term and unreliable work in order to make ends meet. Instead of long-term (or even reasonably short-term) work contracts, contemporary employment is becoming more precarious and increasingly mediated in a digital context. These kinds of arrangements are facilitating the rise of the Entreprecariat, which "refers to the reciprocal influence of an entrepreneurialist regime and pervasive precarity." [1] The entrepreneurialist regime is an ideological construction that promises freedom – often pitched as flexibility – achieved through sheer willpower and hard work. It builds upon the idea of 'Homo Economicus' – that people are rational and self-interested agents who will seek to maximise their own utility and profit. It is an attempt to convince workers that their own conditions are not due to the structure of society, but solely down to their own agency. Take, for example, a recent advert from Fiverr – the 'Freelance Services Marketplace for The Lean Entrepreneur' [2] – featured a portrait of a gaunt and tired-looking worker with the following text:
You eat a coffee for lunch.
You follow through on
your follow through. Sleep
deprivation is your drug of
choice. You might be a doer.
You – as the idealised "gig worker" – do not need the support of minimum wage legislation or holiday pay (let alone sick pay!) as you are a 'doer', drawing on your entrepreneurial skills to get ahead, unlike the supposed don’t-er, who are unwilling to take initiative.
The idea of the Entreprecariat has been popularised following the 2008 financial crisis. In the context of what Paul Mason has described as a 'jobless recovery' [3], there has been a rapid rise of 'platform capitalism' [4], in which companies have tried to[…] ment used for the work. The purported flexibility of this kind of work involves the transferral of risk from capital to labour, with very little in return. There is no opportunity for entrepreneurialism, with the work dictated by the demand for food delivery. While the labour process is controlled via immaterial smartphone apps, the work itself is definitely material. The food has to be sourced from ingredients and cooked into meals, and these then have to be transported across the physical environment of the city. This movement is powered through the burning of calories on a bicycle or the burning of petrol on mopeds. It requires long shifts, regardless of the weather and traffic, and risks injury and accidents.
The power of the Entreprecariat subjectivity has not lasted long in the "gig economy". Despite the marketing gimmicks about flexibility and the promise of liberation that would come from being a self-employed independent contractor, the grim realities of this kind of precarious work are increasingly coming to the surface. Instead, a new subjectivity is being formed in the offline spaces of these online platforms. In the case of Deliveroo, workers are assigned meeting points to ensure the fastest delivery[…] rank and file organisations have very different structures to mainstream trade unions, starting from workers’ self-organisation and action.
The success of the new business models in the "gig economy" means that the experiences of this kind of work are becoming increasingly common across different sectors. The model is an attempt to force workers to take on more risk and less pay, often with digital surveillance and control. But there is now an alternative to the Entreprecariat subjectivity of trying harder, working longer, and drinking much more coffee. Rather than individuals competing to get ahead, a new collective subjectivity of the 'doer' is being formed. This is the worker who refuses, who talks to other workers at the meetup point, who starts a WhatsApp group, who writes a leaflet, and who takes the first step to organising that refusal into an antagonism with management [7]. This new subjectivity is being forged through the collective struggle for counter-power at work.
Entreprecariat reader synopses and abstracts
26.09.18 PAD
CALENDAR 26-09-2018 -Event 1
What How Why 26.09.2018
WHAT
Neural is a magazine that started in Italy in 1993. Its’ first edition was released only edited in Italian, but eventually, in 2008 it started to earn its’ space internationally, assuming itself a magazine that only had an English edition.The intention since the beginning was to create a printed interface where themes like digital culture, media arts, hacktivism, and even electronic music could start to be displayed for the general public, always backed up by a contemporary design. Nowadays, the intentions are to innovate even more, creating a parallel between the analog printed medium and its’ website.
HOW
Neural had already been redesigned two times, being the last in 2008, and ten years later had the intention to change once again. I integrated the team that was going to do it for the third one. I assumed the role of the graphic designer in the team. Not only from the beginning we understood the need for this graphic work to be done but also knew that there was the need for a new management of how all the magazine parts interacted among themselves. We had to go through the categories that they used to have, see how they have developed during this ten years’ period and decide what would have to be redone and relinked.
WHY
I was about to finish my bachelor and we could either start a personal project or find an internship for ourselves. A university professor of mine that was a contributor to the magazine made the connection between the magazine editor and the graphic design department in FBAUP, from this sequence of events I ended up joining their team. We started the project and what it seemed to be only a graphic rebrand turned out to have deeper needs for different interventions. This changed my involvement in the process, challenging me to assume different roles and to step out the graphic designer bubble in which he is only processing information and changing how it might be displayed.
Second Text on What, Why and How
Neural is a magazine that started in Italy in 1993. The intention since the beginning was to create a printed medium, where themes like digital culture, media arts, hacktivism, and even electronic music could start to be displayed for the general public, always backed up by a contemporary design. Its first edition was released only edited in Italian and it was a translation of William Gibson’s book “Agrippa (a book of the dead)”. This changed in the second issue and it started to address topics like cyberpunk, electronic music, BBS (Bulletin board system), VR, media, science fiction and OVNIs. Eventually, in 2008 it started to earn its space internationally, assuming itself a magazine that only had an English edition. Nowadays, the intentions are to innovate even more, creating a parallel between the analog printed format and its digital website. Neural had already been redesigned two times, being the last in 2008, and ten years later had the intention to change once again, motivated by its dated graphic appearance and with a need for a structural change. I integrated the team that was going to do it for this third one. Our team had three members, Alessandro that was the editor, Miguel Carvalhais that was one of the contributors and also the bridge between the magazine and me. I had the role of the graphic designer. Not only from the beginning we understood the need for this graphic work to be done but also knew that there was the need for a new organization on how all the magazine categories interacted among themselves, connecting interviews, reports, and essays creating a structured narrative. I was about to finish my bachelor and we could either start a personal project or find an internship for ourselves. A university professor of mine that was a contributor to the magazine made the connection between the magazine editor and the graphic design department in FBAUP, from this sequence of events I ended up joining this team. We started the project and what it seemed to be only a graphic rebrand where we would create a new layout turned out to have deeper needs for different interventions, we found ourselves with the need to create new categories that would now be used in parallel with the digital edition of Neural, we had to restructure how reviews would now be presented and also what they would be reviewing. This changed my involvement in the process, challenging me to assume different roles and to step out the graphic designer bubble in which he is only processing information and changing how it might be displayed.
Closed Circuit, 2010,
Rod Dickinson in collaboration with Steve Rushton
3 Channel Video Installation with 2 teleprompters (and initially a Live Performance, 28 August 2010, 8 p.m. at Stara Elektrarna - The Old Power Station - Ljubljana, Slovenia as part of the International festival Mladi levi)
Commisioned and produced by Aksioma Institute for Contemporary Arts
The Milgram Re-enactment, 2002,
Rod Dickinson in collaboration with Graeme Edler and Steve Rushton
Video Installation and installation of the laboratory / performance space comprising of electro shock equipment, tables, shelf, surveillance windows.
Total Dimensions Variable, Laboratory Dimensions: 5.5m x 3.6m x 3m
Commissioned By Vivienne Gaskin