Katya Ev
(ekaterina vasilyeva)

Conceptual Prism

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Ne rien faire contre rémunération deconstructs the idea of 'doing nothing' as losing time, as well as productivity as valuable – because the participants are paid for it.

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In a world where economic constraint dispossesses workers of a large part of their time, Ne rien faire contre rémunération reconsiders free time as a class privilege. ‘Doing nothing’ here is radically opposed to the notion of otium advocated by ancient philosophy and later widely developed in Western thought – an aristocratic grant obtained through the exploitation of others.

On the other hand, Ne rien faire contre rémunération unpacks the social stigma associated with 'doing nothing' as marginal pastime or procrastination. Unlike voluntary and involuntary outsiders, practicing inaction and refraining from accelerated productivity is no longer dissident when getting paid.

‘Doing nothing’ is thus practiced by the means of the capitalist system, where money is the ultimate measurement of symbolic value.*

Ne rien faire contre rémunération is conceived as a systemic proposal: a modèle reduit, or scale model, that formalizes and points out elements that belong to everyday capitalism. Using procedures, contracts, measured time, compensation, transaction, and so forth, it does not offer a commentary on ‘doing nothing’, but enacts it through a subversive device. It gives an objective, administrative existence to this ‘doing nothing’ and ‘nothingness’ recognized by the state, and by attributing to them monetary value, installs them in a capitalist logic.

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* ‘Bullshit jobs’ and the notion of ‘bore-out’ are to be further discussed.