Panel, Screening

Drawing from critical perspectives on labor, social media and political theory, this panel discussion addresses the nature of work of Internet users and networked workers, focusing on the relationship between invisible labor, play, exploitation, pleasure, and the production of value. What constitutes work in the digital era? What are some alternatives to the seamless corporate expropriation of value from millions of net users? Is it possible to acknowledge the moments of ruthless exploitation without eradicating optimism, inspiration, and the many instances of individual financial and political empowerment?

As annotations to the panel, several web-based projects by artists including Burak Arikan, Jeff Crouse, Ursula Endlicher, Scott Kildall, Aaron Koblin, Stephanie Rothenberg and Victoria Scott are installed in the lecture hall from 5:30 p.m. onwards and open to the public throughout the evening.

This event is presented as a prelude to “The Internet as Playground and Factory,” a conference organized by Eugene Lang faculty member Trebor Scholz that will take place at the Theresa Lang Community and Student Center at The New School from November 12 to 14, 2009 (www.digitallabor.org). The conference will address the massive transformations in economy, labor, and life related to digital media and confront the urgent need to interrogate what constitutes labor and value in the digital economy.

Moderator
McKenzie Wark, Associate Professor, Chair of Media Studies and Associate Dean of Eugene Lang College

Participants
Andrew Ross, Professor of Social and Cultural Analysis, New York University and author of Nice Work if You Can Get It: Life and Labor in Precarious Times
Richard Sennett, Professor of Sociology, New York University and author of <i>The Craftsman [CANCELLATION]
Tiziana Terranova, Associate Professor of Sociology of Communications, Università di Napoli L’Orientale and author of Network Culture: Politics for the Information Age

Artist Projects By
Burak Arikan
Ursula Endlicher
Scott Kildall and Victoria Scott
Aaron Koblin
Stephanie Rothenberg and Jeff Crouse

Co-sponsored by the Culture and Media Program at Eugene Lang College and presented on occasion of the Vera List Center’s 2009/2010 program theme “Speculating on Change.”