A PROJECT BY JUHEE HAHM

What can we learn from examining the social value of labour within the context of ‘real’ and ‘Bull-Shit’ jobs?

In our modern society, working appears to be at the centre of human activity. Work is both identity, means of survival, and motivation. To explore the future of work, Hahm proposes to investigate the phenomenon of ‘Bull-Shit Jobs’ focusing her research on the body of work collected by David Graeber in Bullshitjob.com(2001-ongoing). ‘Bull-Shit Jobs’ have emerged as a mean to quantify work and to protect jobs from growing automation. In this context, if work is no longer just about production, then one can wonder what is the value of human labour? Juhee Hahm asks- what can we learn about the current state of humanities by looking a the phenomenon of ‘Bull-Shit Jobs’? Taking a material and product such as coffee as the start of her investigation, Hahm’s coffee-fueled-waiting-room for ‘Bull-Shit Jobs’ explores the infrastructure that supports existing relationship to work, leisure and perceived social values. In her waiting room, audiences are tasked to experience their own ‘Bull-Shit Jobs’ while earning fuel in the form of caffeine. The installation is designed to spark discussion about the contemporary value of labour with the view that by creating ‘Bull-Shit Jobs’, one can justify human’s existence through a contribution to production, however meaningless they may appear.