User:Kotryna Bu/ On Practice

Sketchy Business - an essay

Abstract text on inspiration

Maintenance workers, domestic workers, au pairs, cleaners, housekeepers, street sweepers, taxi drivers, but also lovers, mid-wives, call centre workers, cashiers, fisherman and fish factory men, plumbers and electricians, security guards, receptionists, night shopkeepers, street performers, Ambulance drivers, men taking polaroid pictures in bars and flower vendors. Post women, delivery men, illegal street traders and mushroom-pickers.

Charmed, moved by a certain attraction towards care-takers, precarious workers and street traders, I thought it would be good to explain myself to myself — why am I interested in these roles? Pawns and pilots serving economical realities, or can we call them guerrillas of a failed Neo-liberal paradise? In this text I will be abstractly referring to the above-mentioned working people as characters performing uncertain and arguably unrewarding labour. And particularly, I will be talking about the occupations that involve more sketchy, ‘murky’ careers and how do they relate to the performativity of capitalism. At last, I will ponder upon my own work approach and my intention to philosophize, dematerialize the hustle. As we live and work, we inevitably perform certain labour systems: our activities transform into accomplishing results, may it be the daily bread we eat. In the monetary system, the deeds are converted into coins, then the numbers and the data banks register wages and revenues, giving a report on our quality of living. It’s a promise of progress. Other labour, such as motherhood and domestic work, is casualised often earning less or nothing. Isn’t it paradoxical that the word Economy derives from Ancient Greek word οἰκονομία (oikonomía) meaning 'management of a household, administration,' but nowadays we refer to the economy as an exchange of financial values. And what about the mushroom picker selling on the road? Those, participating in the informal economy, represent direct production and direct earning, without it being monitored or taxed by the government. The informal sector quite often takes a significant part in the economy, pinpointing the flaws of the system. In the essay ”The Informal Economy” Alejandro Portes and William Haller write on its importance: ”The informal economy may be characterized as a constructed response by civil society to unwanted state interference. The universal character of the phenomenon reflects the considerable capacity of resistance in most societies to the exercise of state power. [...] Second, the goods and services provided by informal producers lower the costs of consumption for formal workers and the costs of production and distribution for formal firms, thus contributing to their viability. [...] The fourth paradox of the informal economy is that it commonly yields a series of positive effects for the state, the very institution charged with it suppression. [...]Through these mechanisms, the informal economy contributes to the political stability and economic viability of poorer nations. These realities help explain why informal activities are commonly tolerated by many governments, in contradiction to their law-enforcement duties.” {1} Thus is the mushroom seller an inseparable character in the trade ecosystem? Without doubt, these assertions have to be closely studied per field and per region. I’m curious to think how does informal economy (management of household) interact with social structures and the order of nations.

  The informal economy participants, such as (mostly undocumented) street vendors, could be seen as entertainers or decorators of (western) leisure. Whether they sell your favourite street food or flowers, they are out there to offer what we consumers miss that very moment. It can get creative, once I spotted a man with a body scale offering to weight yourself for a euro. {2}

In Lithuania, flower street vendors are usually retired grandmothers. They guard on the corner of a square, sitting till the late cold evenings, tying eclectic bouquets by hand. Isn’t that convenient, when we forget to buy flowers on the mothers day and the supermarkets are closed? Isn’t it convenient because it’s cheaper? Doesn’t the act of buying these flowers directly contribute to the grandmother’s financial situation? And isn’t it more viable, as at the end the numbers and the data banks, regardlessly, can’t measure the quality of life of the grandmother, not even if she was literary taxed. And the Lithuanian grandmother is not undocumented. Wherever else you go, moments of street trade visibly portray the contrast between the needs and the luxuries of survival. In Paris, next to each famous landmark people are selling souvenirs on a partly tolerated trade battlefield. Under the Eiffel tower, the rampant consumerism meets extreme poverty. These plastic ‘made in china’ objects bought (mostly) by western tourists recall as an item of memories from their fantastic trip, but in reality no one needs it and the object itself is worthless. Worse than worthless if we consider the environmental impact of producing them in China by other exploited workers. And simultaneously, this activity must feed families — as I talk to the sellers, on a good day they make 200-300 euros, but they do have to run from the police time to time. Would it be odd to stand under the tower without a vendors company? Can we hypothesize that the informal market is an essential requisite? And that the regular economy benefits from that too, whilst not counting the poorest in their analysis? Internet instead of the street The extensive drive of people to gain more money constantly creates new ways of trading, which with the help of the internet became more random, sometimes perverse, illegal and even dishonest (scam). This surge of internet-based, improvised modes of production has transformed the product in means of content and accessibility. It also affected the buyer — the audience is now part of the performance too. Practices like drop-shipping and OnlyFans are perfect examples. There is no Intention of moralizing or judging these unless we’re talking about an outright scam. For example, online sex work is as ethical as more traditional jobs, but is working for a fast fashion retailer or making commercials for multinational companies? Note to self: to each their own moral.

We often hear about the self employment freedom controversially producing a delusion of money making, with no social assurance. Gig economy workers, such as Uber drivers and food delivery bike riders are dealing with the same stakes. Approaching my own work wondering how my own labour contributes, to the currents of now, the whirlpools of the worlds at war and seas of tears. Is kindness, a helping hand considered labour too? I was asking myself thus far, is love a labour too? My endeavour is to work from real stories and direct records of everyday life. In this way I try to analyze one’s personal relationship with the material world: system flaws, hypocritical truths and shortcomings. Am I trying to search for agency for the care-takers and street vendors? Maybe. Some of these professions rather sound romantic to me, giving thought to the importance of the household and civic maintenance work (note to M. L. Ukeles). And another note to self: My mother has always been taking care of the poor, the disadvantaged, the unlucky, the bankrupted. She always stresses me the facts from the news:Kotrynele, have you seen these people? Have you seen how they long to live and survive. They hold on to a flying plane to live!’’ Mom likes it dramatic. I found myself trouble shooting the ominous fact of exploitation, who am I as a white privileged white European to make work about street vendors in a different place? Although, my money making practise is a hustle too, starting as a freelancer, Marktplaats seller, illegal home tattooist, a handy- woman and cleaner too. Being attracted by ‘the sketchy business’ - I want to capture it in my work. Can I philosophize the hustle? Is it about lost futures in a glittery consumer world of progress?

{1} The Handbook of Economic Sociology Alejandro Portes and William Haller {2} (Note: depending on the country, in NL there is way less illegal vendors)

Film Plan V1

Film Plan V1

• TITLE * tbd, short film 5 min (3.5 min cut for EYE screening)


Poetic exploration of modern day labour operations and commodified cuteness.



 GENRE: experimental, diaristic, multi-vocal.



 SYNOPSIS



 A glimpse of a day of young adults, meeting their ends day-to-day by different means: side jobs and various trades online.



 TREATMENT


• TITLE* centres around two broke friends looking for new possibilities to earn money. 


The film starts with character Nova, a third year anthropology student, her diaristic voice leads us through the glimpses of her day observing her neighbourhood. 
 Through Nova’s diary, we get to know her character, her soft lyrical view of the world. Her look is confident and contemporary, although she’s lost in her head because of money struggles. Through her voice we examine people around her working: her neighbour rents a Tesla to work as an Uber driver on the weekends, here’s a delivery man complimenting her looks, a neighbourhood boy on a scooter smiling at her. (People innocently gazing at her with admiration)
 An abrupt introduction of Nova’s best friend Oliver, a student who’s working as a barista and on his free time dealing all kinds of things online, designer items and vintage furniture.
 On a way to her friends house in the evening, Nova observes people on the bus being on their phones. When she reaches Oliver’s place, they have a drink outside his anti-kraak house, because Oliver rented his room for an Airbnb party. Loud music from the party is playing in the background, lights are strobing. 
 They have a drink outside in the cold and have a conversation. Drunk people are passing by. 
 Nova talks about her money struggles and they discuss possible new ways of making money online. Oliver tells about this idea to sell worn panties online. They both find it vulgar, but isn’t it rather empowering in these times? Would Nova dear to use her cuteness for commerce? 



 Narration devices & multi-vocal narration approach


 The work involves multiple narration channels: Nova’s diary, a narrators voice over, dialogue, phone call, Breaking the Fourth Wall moment. This in order to accentuate different viewpoints and play with the audiences attention, jump through topics (as our mind jumps through the constant flow of information online)



 Characters:



 The characters are believable, typical contemporary millennials: on the one hand highly educated and privileged to a degree, on the other lacking the opportunities to find long-term housing, income, stability, etc. Precarity is here the key term.



 Nova (anthropology student), looking for a job
 Oliver (psychology student) working as a barista, trading online 
 Strangers: Neighbour, delivery man, scooter boy.
 Repetitive element: Phone screens
 



MOTIVATION * M U R K Y B U S I N E S S *
 


I believe, that one’s life, the all encompassing state of being is greatly commodified, and it makes people produce and buy vain objects and low value experiences. With the help of the internet, the production and hype-based environment creates arbitrary occupations, which serve only one aim — the monetary. We can’t call them completely aimless, rather fundamentally rooted in the capitalist system, profit rather than benefit. 
 
 This short film pictures the world where people are being forced into situations where they have to earn their living in a slightly edgy, sketchy ways. There is a sense of desperate quality, selling worthless things, selling fantasies: selling buyer’s own idea to themselves. This is an exaggerated comment on commodified realities.
 
 The extensive drive of people to gain more money constantly creates new ways of trading, which often are random; sometimes perverse, unsafe, illegal and dishonest (scam). Without questioning the value of the product, that is created by a hype around it, we’ve become a society of the spectacle: the content and the buyer of our own nullity (inferiority, rubbish).
 This surge of internet-based, improvised modes of production has transformed the product in means of content and accessibility. It also altered the buyer — the audience is now part of the performance too. Practices like drop-shipping and OnlyFans are perfect examples. There is no intention of moralizing or judging these unless we’re talking about an outright scam. For example, online sex work is as ethical as more traditional jobs, but is working for a fast fashion retailer or making commercials for multinational companies?