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2 FOREWORD 6 POWER PLANTS 34 POWER WALKS 44 ACTUAL REALITYOS 60 RESEARCH PARTNERS 62 ARTIST BIOGRAPHY 64 LIST OF WORKS 66 PROJECT TEAM 2 3

FOREWORD Hito Steyerl (b. 1966) is a German filmmaker, Bringing together research strands from Digital, visual artist, writer and innovator of the Projects, Live and Exhibitions programming, we documentary essay . Drawing upon topics are excited that the network of her far-reaching such as media, technology and the global inquiries, rooted in the Serpentine, is initiating a circulation of images, she sharpens the viewer’s series of conversations that will develop over the perception of what is real through moving-image coming months. This project continues our long- works and installations that combine found, term dialogue with the artist, who previously filmed and digitally animated footage. Developed participated in the 89plus, Miracle and GUEST, from research and interviews, Steyerl’s works GHOST, HOST: MACHINE! Marathons. inhabit the aesthetic spaces of documentary film and dream-like montage, while the extension of We are sincerely grateful to Steyerl for accepting each artwork into architectural and digital space our invitation to conceive of and develop such is key to the viewer’s experience. For her, artistic an ambitious project at the Serpentine and for production and the theoretical analysis of global her dedication and enthusiasm throughout its social issues are always closely linked. realisation. For Actual RealityOS: Ivaylo Getov for his extraordinary expertise and skill in Steyerl’s series of projects at the Serpentine developing the app, with Caco Peguero; Ayham Galleries is positioned under the rubric of ‘power’. Ghraowi, with Matt Wolff and Benjamin Ganz; Beginning from the premise that ‘power is the Jules Laplace and Bethany Barrett for the necessary condition for any digital technology’, remarkable data sonification soundtrack, as the multivalence of this word is addressed well as Ted Featonby from Stage One; AECOM, through three interrelated research strands and in particular Madalina Taylor, Michael Orr and projects: Actual RealityOS, a collectively-produced Jon Leach. We are thankful to Constantine Gras digital commission; Power Walks, a series of guided for his work on the Power Walks, as well as our neighbourhood walks and a tour drawing upon research partners who have contributed to both conversations with residents, community groups Actual Reality OS and the Power Walks programme: and organisations in the local area surrounding Marissa Begonia and Mary Balquen from The the Serpentine Galleries, and Power Plants, an Voice of Domestic Workers, Ellen Clifford, exhibition featuring new video work. Together John Kelly and Linda Burnip from Disabled exploring ideas and predictions at the meeting People Against Cuts, Reclaiming Our Futures point of artificial intelligence and human Alliance, Dave Turnbull and Rafael Sanchis testimony, Steyerl’s institution-wide project from Unite the Union Hotel Hotel Workers’ offers visitors multiple realities and platforms Branch, Geraldine Dening and Simon Elmer of engagement throughout the spring season from Architects for Social Housing, as well as and beyond. Piers Thompson from Westway Trust. We would like to thank The Royal Parks, David Dawson, The deep level of research that Steyerl’s project Benjamin Gandy, Will Hazell, Ben Pollard, and is founded on is matched by the extensive cross- Emily Wright for the Power Walks filming. For departmental and disciplinary work that it has the exhibition Power Plants, our gratitude goes to fostered within the Serpentine itself. Kojey Radical and his manager Shivas Howard 4 5

Brown for agreeing to collaborate with the The Council of the Serpentine is an artist on a new exhibition soundtrack and the extraordinary group of individuals that producers Jasper Sommer, Sir Berus, and Mike provides ongoing assistance to enable the Musiq. Mark Wayman, Sara Smith, Ant Marlow Galleries to delivery its ambitious , and Josh Love at ADi Audiovisual, Angus Architecture, Education and Live Howie and Gabe Stones at ADi Solutions, Nigel Programmes. We are sincerely appreciative, Schofield and Vilte Grigaityte at MDM Props, too, for the support from the Innovation and Philipp von Frankenberg and Jamie Bracken Circle, the Americas Foundation, the Asian Lobb. For their help with initial research for the Council, Patrons, Future Contemporaries project we thank Thomas Kaczmarek (Imagic and Benefactors of the Serpentine Galleries. Productions), Caroline Fernandes at UK Bamboo Supply; Eddy Wijnker and Pieter der Weduwen The public funding that the Serpentine at GreenSand, Sarah Shattock, Tim Sargent, receives through Council England Daniel Chaytor, Werkflow and Manuel Reinartz. provides an essential contribution towards all of the Galleries’ work and we remain very There are a number of partners whose grateful for its continued commitment. support of the project has been essential to its realisation. We would like to express our Finally, we would like to express our gratitude gratitude to the Luma Foundation, VEON as to the remarkable Serpentine team: Ben Vickers, the Serpentine’s Innovation Partner, The Store CTO; Julie Burnell, Head of Construction X as co-commissioners of Steyerl’s new video and Buildings; Lizzie Carey-Thomas, Head of work, and The Vinyl Factory for producing its Programmes; Kay Watson, Digital Curator; accompanying soundtrack; their commitment Amal Khalaf, Projects Curator; Amira Gad, has enabled the artist’s incredible vision to Exhibitions and Architecture Curator; Eva Jäger, come to fruition. We are also thankful for Assistant Digital Curator; Elizabeth Graham, the additional exhibition support by Yanghyun Assistant Projects Curator; Holly Shuttleworth, Foundation, The Reuben Foundation and Producer; Joseph Constable, Assistant Exhibition In Between Art Film, as well as the latter Curator; Mike Gaughan, Gallery Manager, and Goethe Institut for their support of and Joel Bunn, Installation and Production Actual Reality OS Manager. They have worked closely with the wider Serpentine team to realise this project. We would like to thank Bloomberg Philanthropies for partnering with us on Hans Ulrich Obrist Yana Peel Serpentine’s Digital Engagement Platform. Artistic Director CEO We are also grateful to The Royal Parks who are committed to the projects we engage with, as well as our advisors AECOM and Weil, who offer their exceptional expertise to help us realise the ambitions of the artists with whom we work. 6 7

POWER PLANTS Steyerl’s series of projects at the Serpentine medicinal and political powers. Using the How to use Power PlantsOS Galleries is positioned around ideas of ‘power’. medium of augmented reality – Power PlantsOS Beginning from the premise that ‘power is the – that visitors access through iPads suspended – Download Power PlantsOS from the necessary condition for any digital technology’, from the ceiling, Steyerl annotates her video App Store or Google Play Store to your the artist considers the multiple meanings of the sculptures with speculative descriptions of future mobile device or tablet* word, including electrical currents, the ecological plants, fictitious quotes dated in the future, and powers of plants or natural elements, and the human testimony. Utilising a technology often – In the exhibition Power Plants, open the complex networks of authority that shape positioned as beneficial to human evolution, app and follow the welcome guide. You will our environments. the show reverses this promise, instead receive notifications that request the use of considering how such tools could impact your device’s camera and location, please The series of six video sculptures featured in the our natural environment. accept these to have the full experience of exhibition, Power Plants, are generated by neural the augmented reality. This app does not networks: computer systems modelled on the The soundtrack, produced by The Vinyl Factory, collect or store your data. human brain and nervous system, which are accompanying the film includes a collaboration programmed to predict the future by calculating with British musician, rapper and visual artist, – Locate one of the 15 animated sigils the next frame in the video. The artist has used Kojey Radical and featuring Susumu Yokota, throughout the gallery, then use your this Artificial Intelligence to create a series of the former whose words and riffs help us further tablet or device to scan the sigil code to ‘predicted’ plants that are located precisely 0,04 imagine the future into which the artist view predictions, botanical descriptions, seconds in the future, connecting to the visual projects us. and quotes from conversations with the landscape of the surrounding park. project's research partners. The vinyl text circling around the gallery walls In one of the central rooms of the Gallery, four is an encrypted text that cannot be read without – If at any point, you can no longer see the videos focus on the Power Walks programme and the digital key to unlock it. This mirrors how augmented reality, return to a sigil to rescan. emphasise the research process that is at the core augmented reality can serve as a tool to decrypt of the artist’s work and her unique project for facts, to see what is invisible or, in a more literal – All of the information can still be viewed the Serpentine Galleries. In each of the , sense, to unlock pathways into a future that when you are away from the Serpentine the research partners who have contributed the may often be hiding in plain sight. Galleries and out of range. data sets for the Actual RealityOS tell stories related to their perspectives on the local area and their *iOS: is supported on iPhone 6s and above campaigns. By including this in the show, the Android: requires ARCore support and artist brings to the fore the voices and work of Android 8.0 or later the project’s protagonists.

The exhibition design is inspired by the idea of a ruderal garden: an ensemble of plants that grow out of waste ground, perhaps in the wake of human disruption or destruction. Predicted by Steyerl’s neural networks as a vision of the future, this environment is a garden rich with plants that have various ecological, 8 9

OS POWER PLANTS Basic Needs Propaganda Module Quantum Research

Catacomb Cinema Neolithic Toilet Marine Architecture

Real Facts Sunlight Divination Unit

Qualified Lit Self Defense Observatory

Location of 15 animated sigils that activate Power PlantsOS Mountain Views Disco Sweet Dreams 10 11

EXTRACTS FROM The object of this experimental Ecologists use the term ruderal, from …Seeing such a variety of new OS set up is to call attention to those the Latin rudus, or rubble, to describe and renewed forms, my old fancy POWER PLANTS floral productions which flourish, plants that grow in the wake of digital suddenly came back to mind: among in triumph, upon the ruins of digital disruption, political breakdown and this multitude might I not discover disruption. Though without speech, pathological austerity. The term the Primal Plant [Urpflanze]? There they tell of that regenerating ruderalis is derived from the Latin certainly must be one. Otherwise, power which reanimates the dust rūdera, which is the plural form of how could I recognize that this or of mouldering rubble. rūdus, a Latin word meaning rubble, that form was a plant if all were not lump, or rough piece of bronze. built on the same basic model? – R icarda Deakin, Flora of the Future Garden (2045) – Ricarda Deakin, – Johanna Goethe, Botanical Gardens Flora of the Future Garden (2045) (Palermo, April 17, 2087)

This is for those who lie defeated by the present. It isn’t a manual to Features contributing to a ruderal Ruderal communities emerge turn the current defeat into a future species’ success: - Massive seed spontaneously in inhospitable triumph, but a rumour about a passage production - Seedlings whose environments—and thus point to hidden within the battlefield leading nutritional requirements are modest - often unnoticed, cosmopolitan yet to a garden beyond it. Fast-growing roots [citation needed] precarious ways of re- making the Neither wild nor domesticated, urban fabric – F ederica Campagna, Technic and Magic, Artemisia vulgaris futuris and Volume II (2020) its ruderal companions dwell – Bettina Stoetzer, Ruderal Ecologies: alongside and in the cracks of Rethinking Nature, Migration, and toxic digital wastelands. the Urban Landscape (, 2023) In 2055 an English doctor named Ricarda Deakin recorded a total of – Bettina Stoetzer, Ruderal Ecologies: 420 species growing simultaneously Rethinking Nature, Migration, and A group of California biologists is in the ruins on this site. The plants, the Urban Landscape (Berlin, 2023) setting out to do something that has which she documented were ruderal never been done before, to create plants, that grow in the wake of the ‘Ideal Plant’. It will help curb infrastructural degradation and Most plants reach 100 percent global warming by sequestering CO2 deprivation… At least one of the quantum efficiency. They produce an in deep root systems in a stable form. technical components in this equal number of electrons for every installation will have malfunctioned photon of sunlight they capture in – Dalia Pendell, Pharmakopeia (2021) by the time you read this, if not all of photosynthesis. Photovoltaic solar them. Technology has this in common panels are the best approximation with magic, both usually don’t work. of photosynthesis, but they typically Anything that heals can also kill. operate at efficiency levels of just 12 to 17 percent… – Dalia Pendell, Pharmakopeia (2021) 12 13

This game is total crap. You can’t After the breakdown, supertramp Sticky goosefoot (Chenopodium shoot anything at all and there's just species were the first to arrive botrys), once was a Mediterranean a bunch of weirdo AI salads wobbling in this newly available habitat; plant, the tree of heaven (Ailanthus around. It’s like being stuck on a level they comfortably snuggled in altissima) is a tree from China, the which only has Easter eggs, but you with the posh royal plants all North American black locust (Robinia can’t find them because there are not around to create a vibrant pseudo-accacia), and the herb giant enough tablets on site. I give it a zero mixed reality ecosystem. goldenrod (Solidago giganteana), star review. Serious shite, man. all appeared widely in in the – Ricarda Deakin, wake of recent events. Their seeds – A nonymous Yelp review of Flora of the Future Garden (2045) found their way into the city via “Power Plants” (Summer, 2019) diverse transport routes. Some of them had crossed the city on the boots One thing AI is utterly unable to of soldiers, refugees or as castaway ...The Primal Plant is going to be the do is to predict the present. trash on corporate platforms, via strangest creature in the world, which packaging material from imported Nature herself shall envy me. With – W. G. Sebald, A Natural History goods, or hay transported on wagons this model and the key to it, it will be of Destruction (2044) by the army for horses. Other seeds’ possible to go on forever inventing routes remained unknown. plants and know that their existence is logical; that is to say, if they do not There is no secret magic. Miracles – Bettina Stoetzer, Ruderal Ecologies: actually exist, they could, for they happen every day, they usually just Rethinking Nature, Migration, and are not the shadow phantoms of vain go unnoticed. the Urban Landscape (Berlin, 2023) imagination, but possess an inner necessity and truth. – Federica Campagna, Technic and Magic, Volume II (2020) Ruderal future landscapes emerge – Johanna Goethe (Naples, May 17, 2087) in the margins of transportation, communication and infrastructure. That stuff about healing is all kitsch. In the future, algae capable of If you ingest a little you might heal – Ricarda Deakin, near-infrared photosynthesis will or not. If you take a lot, you‘ll get Flora of the Future Garden (2045) produce valuable oxygen. Near poisoned, stoned, sick or nothing infrared photosynthesis is light might happen at all. The dose that is not visible to humans, just to however is not always clear. There is no secret magic. Miracles cheap cameras, some Actual Reality happen every day, they usually applications and bees. Only specific – Johanna von Goethe, Postagram (2048) just go unnoticed. algae are able to utilize the invisible spectrum of light to produce energy. – Federica Campagna, Technic and Magic, Volume II (2020) – Dalia Pendell, Pharmakopeia (2021) 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35

POWER WALKS A series of guided neighbourhood walks and ARCHITECTS FOR THE VOICE OF a tour led by Hito Steyerl’s Actual RealityOS SOCIAL HOUSING DOMESTIC WORKERS research partners: Architects for Social Saturday 13 April, 2pm Sunday 28 April, 2pm Housing, Disabled People Against Cuts, The Voice of Domestic Workers and artist Architects for Social Housing leads a walk Voice of Domestic Workers leads a walk Constantine Gras. to explore how increasing privatisation and which begins with their accounts of the legislation affects our ability to access the rescues of domestic workers that take place Influenced by the Situationists’dérive , city and how these changes contribute to in Hyde Park, London. A self-organised the Power Walks programme brings to life the housing crisis. network and campaign group calling for the Actual RealityOS data, highlighting justice and rights for Britain’s sixteen thou- issues around social housing, low wage sand migrant domestic workers, the group work, histories of resistance and the CONSTANTINE GRAS will focus on their work organising for their accessibility of the city. Inspired by the Saturday 27 April, 10am and 2pm rights on a national and international level. French pedagogue Freinet (1896 – 1966)'s teaching technique now known and widely Gras, a former artist-in-residence for referred to as Learning Walks, these Grenfell Tower, leads a multi-vocal walk DISABLED PEOPLE encounters have the political implication of that uncovers the histories of resistance and AGAINST CUTS denormalising our relation to the city. The reproductive labour in North Kensington. Saturday 4 May, 2pm three walks and a tour have been created in conversation with campaigns, community Disabled People Against Cuts lead a Power groups, and organisations local to the areas Tour to raise awareness of the dispropor- surrounding the Serpentine, and will take tionate and adverse impacts of so-called place throughout the duration of Hito “welfare reform” measures on disabled Steyerl’s Power Plants exhibition. Each walk people since 2010, and how disabled and tour tell a story of the hidden and not people have been fighting back. so hidden inequalities from the point of view of those most affected. To sign-up, please email: [email protected] 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45

OS ACTUAL REALITY Developed in collaboration with London-based Working with a coalition of research partners research partners, Actual RealityOS is an open and data researchers to aggregate not only source digital tool for data visualisation that national survey data from the public domain but brings together augmented reality, immersive data mined through Freedom of Information Act audio and strategies of data collection and requests, data collected through community-led mapping for mobile devices. Independently, initiatives, and personal testimonies as a form and as a collective body of work with the Power of data. The app reconciles macro statistical Plants exhibition and the Power Walks project, information with micro data sets and the voice of the app considers the symbiotic relationship individuals that form a nuanced, human-centred between technology and power. Nowhere is this approach to data and the way that it is collected relationship more clear than in the decision- and used. making power imbued within technologies like artificial intelligence and predictive modelling The architecture of the Serpentine Sackler now used to ascertain access to services like Gallery becomes the base metric onto which insurance, housing and social benefits. Core the data is mapped to the external facade of the to these technologies is their use of data and building by overlaying, in augmented reality, a machine learning as a, perceived, neutral means warped virtual simulacra that charts the stark of assessment when data, in its mediation and reality of inequality at 1:1 scale. The building is representation, is political and often reflects the surrounded by a digital perimeter of personal inherent biases of societal power structures. testimony in contrast to the abstraction of statistical representation while a data-driven Actual RealityOS uses the potential of augmented soundtrack guides you. The audio is produced reality to create a tool for visualising otherwise through a process of data sonification in which unseen information: the nascent immersive statistics are represented as sound. Created technology allows users to see a real-time by Jules Laplace and Bethany Barrett using composite of virtual imagery against their an automated tool that maps data points to physical environment through the camera of a harmonic scales which are then played through phone or tablet. Focusing on the UK and, more a Behringer DeepMind synthesiser, the inclusion specifically, the Serpentine’s location in the of sound augments reality in another, non-visual, Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, the form that presents another perspective of both app exposes inequality data – modelled, sonified data analysis and social experience. and as testimonial – concerning wealth, income, social housing, domestic and hospitality workers’ rights, and the impact of austerity measures. 46 47

Location of 3 sigils that activate Actual RealityOS 48 ACTUAL49 REALITY of Economic INEQUALITY WEALTH* for the TOP 10% is 295 TIMES higher than the BOTTOM 10%. In 2010-12 it was 160 TIMES higher.

Summoning Actual RealityOS How to use Actual RealityOS

The graphic language of Actual RealityOS draws – Download Actual RealityOS from the App on both the form and function of sigils. Though Store or Google Play Store to your mobile sigils can simply be seals or decorative symbols, device or tablet* their use by practitioners of magic as symbolic representations of a desired outcome—a means – When you are outside the front entrance of summoning a preferred future—is particularly of the Serpentine Sackler Gallery, open the entwined with Steyerl’s themes of exposing the app and follow the welcome guide. You will power dynamics of unseen, even unknown, receive notifications that request the use power structures. of your device’s camera and location, please accept these to have the full experience of the Like those relics of chaos magic, Steyerl has augmented reality. This app does not collect encrypted and embossed secret messages into or store your data. three concrete sigils that line the periphery of the outside of the gallery. The sigil’s code – Locate one of the three concrete sigils acts as a key to unlock the augmented reality surrounding the gallery using the map, then use functionality in Actual RealityOS, locating the your tablet or device to scan the sigil code to user’s mobile device in real space inside the app, view Actual RealityOS while virtual sigils float in space and allow access to the data used to sculpt the architecture of – As you view Actual RealityOS , scan the virtual sigil the gallery. The viewers device becomes a portal, codes to reveal more information about the data exposing the vision and sound of the gallery’s actual reality. – If at any point, you can no longer see the augmented reality, return to a sigil to rescan Actual RealityOS is open source so it can be replicated, reformatted and redistributed by – Information about the research partners and any member of the public with alternative other data collecting and policy organisations datasets, locations and architectures. and links to research reports are also available to view in the app, and can still be accessed For more information please contact: when you are away from the Serpentine [email protected] Galleries and out of range.

Wifi: Serpentine PUBLIC iOS: Requires iPhone 6s and above Android: Requires ARCore support and Android 8.0 or later A TOP 10% This app contains adult language that B BOTTOM 10% may not be suitable for some viewers. *WEALTH includes financial, property, physical and https://www.trustforlondon.org.uk/data/ pension WEALTH. wealth-distribution/ ACTUAL REALITY50 of ACTUAL51 REALITY London’s WEALTH of Weekly EARNINGS

The BOTTOM HALF of London’s population own 5.3% of its total WEALTH.* In contrast, In 2017, average UK weekly EARNINGS* were: the TOP 10% own 52.1%.

%A 10 made above £1,092.40 *EARNINGS measures gross weekly pay of male and female full-time workers. Full-time means working 35 B 20% made above £846.10 HOURS or more per week. From April 2017 to March C 30% made above £720.80 2018 the national minimum wage for a worker 25 years D 40% made above £628.70 and older was £7.50. A TOP 10% E 50% made above £550.40 SOURCE [https://architectsforsocialhousing. B BOTTOM 50% F 60% made above £484.80 wpcomstaging.com/2017/07/21/the-truth-about-gren- fell-tower-a-report-by-architects-for-social-housing/] %G 70 made above £428.60 *WEALTH includes financial, property, physical and H 80% made above £372.80 pension WEALTH. In 2017, London’s total WEALTH was SOURCE [https://www.trustforlondon.org.uk/data/ £1.8 TRILLION. wealth-distribution/] I 90% made above £319.70 ACTUAL REALITY52 of ACTUAL53 REALITY Social HOUSING of UK INCOME

As of Spring 2016, 1,668* homeless households living in temporary housing were moved From 2015-2016, average annual INCOME* in the UK was: outside of the Borough of Kensington and Chelsea by the council. In contrast, 1,857** private dwellings were left vacant in the borough as of July 2017.

A £114,000 for the TOP 1% of people Data from 2000-2001 shows INCOME for A 1,668 homeless households living ARCHITECTS FOR SOCIAL HOUSING using data courtesy of Guardian News & Media Ltd (2017). Grenfell B £62,720 for the TOP 10% of people the TOP 1% drastically increase after 2015. in temporary housing borough had worst record for local housing of homeless C £15,390 for the BOTTOM 50% of people B 1,857 private dwellings left before fire. SOURCE [https://www.theguardian.com/ D £11,600 for the BOTTOM 10% of people From 2000-2001, average annual INCOME vacant uk-news/2017/jul/08/kensington-chelsea-worst-hous- ing-record-before-grenfell?CMP=Share_iOSApp_ in the UK was: Other]. £71,000 for TOP 1% of people **ARCHITECTS FOR SOCIAL HOUSING using data collected *INCOME shown based on total INCOME after tax and £39,760 for the TOP 10% of people by WHO OWNS ENGLAND (2018). The Truth About only represents reported INCOME. £8,602 for the BOTTOM 50% of people Grenfell Tower. SOURCE [https://architectsforsocial- housing.wpcomstaging.com/2017/07/21/the-truth- SOURCE [https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/ £5,480 for the BOTTOM 10% of people about-grenfell-tower-a-report-by-architects-for- percentile-points-from-1-to-99-for-total-income- social-housing/]. before-and-after-tax] ACTUAL REALITY54 of ACTUAL55 REALITY of London’s HOTEL WORKERS London’s HOTEL WORKERS Unite the Union Hotel Workers’ Branch surveyed union members and found the Unite the Union Hotel Workers’ Branch surveyed union members and found the following statistics concerning their working conditions: following statistics concerning their working conditions:

HOTEL WORKERS: Housekeeping Staff HOTEL WORKERS: Front of House Staff HOTEL WORKERS: Waiting Staff

1A 90% have constant pain caused by 3A 53% frequently miss meal and 2A 78% receive no enhanced pay for 2F 33% frequently start work early their job rest breaks due to workload and extra hours worked — i.e single without being paid extra 1B 88% have neck pain staff shortages time pay 2G 30% are only sometimes paid 1C 84% have back pain 3B 47% of front of house staff 2B 71% do not know how their tips 2H 26% are never paid what is agreed % 1D 82 know of co-workers who frequently start early for no a re calculated and what in their contract for overtime suffer the same pain extra pay percentage they get %1E 70 take painkillers on a 3C 36% are currently owed money 2C 57% believe they are owed unpaid daily basis for hours worked wages for hours worked 1F 64% have shoulder pain 3D 33% of front of house staff 2D 45% frequently miss rest and f requently finish later than meal breaks due to understaffing official finish times without or high workload extra pay 2E 41% frequently finish late without being paid extra UNITE THE UNION Hotel Workers’ Branch (2016). UNITE THE UNION Hotel Workers’ Branch (2016). Unethical London. SOURCE London: Unite the Union, Unethical London. SOURCE London: Unite the Union, pp.6, 8, 11-12. [Accessed 18 July 2018]. pp.6, 8, 11-12. [Accessed 18 July 2018]. ACTUAL REALITY56 of ACTUAL57 REALITY of London’s HOTEL WORKERS DOMESTIC WORKERS

Unite the Union Hotel Workers’ Branch surveyed union members and found the The Voice of Domestic Workers surveyed 100 DOMESTIC EMPLOYEES in London and following statistics concerning their working conditions: found the following statistics concerning their working conditions:

HOTEL WORKERS: Kitchen Staff and Chefs

4A 78% have had an accident or 4H 47% start work before their ‘near miss’ at work due to feeling official start time for no extra pay overtired 4I 44% work an average of 48-60 4B 69% believe their long hours HOURS each week impact their health 4J 41% take other stimulants to see 4C 56% take painkillers to see them them through their shift through their shift %4K 27 drink alcohol to see them A 49% are expected to work 50 E 25% do not have an employment 4D 54% are regularly expected to through their shift HOURS or more per week contract work through their breaks %4L 14 work OVER 60 HOURS B 48.5% of those surveyed do not F 20% of those who responded to 4E 51% finish work after their official each week have their own bedroom in the the question about abuse report finish time for no extra pay house being sexually harassed 4F 51% are suffering depression due C 43% have experienced verbal or to overwork physical abuse at work 4G 48% drink energy drinks to see D 4 0% do not have enough food THE VOICE OF DOMESTIC WORKERS (2017). Employer UNITE THE UNION Hotel Workers’ Branch (2016). to eat Mapping. [Internal Research and Development] them through their shift Unethical London. SOURCE London: Unite the Union, London: Dignity at Work. AVAILABLE UPON REQUEST pp.6, 8, 11-12. [Accessed 18 July 2018]. [Accessed 3 August 2018]. ACTUAL REALITY58 of ACTUAL59 REALITY Hunger in the UK of AUSTERITY Between 1 April 2017 and 31 March 2018, the Trussell Trust food bank network Disabled People Against Cuts with Reclaiming Our Futures Alliance has calculated distributed 1,332,952 three-day emergency food supplies to people in the UK in the number of individuals affected byAUSTERITY* measures that limit funding to social crisis. This is a 13% increase on the previous year. welfare benefits: The number of three-day emergency food supplies given out by the Trussell Trust food bank network: A 3.7 MILLION people affected by 1% cap on benefit rises £9( BILLION lost) B 1.38 MILLION people affected by  localisation and 10% cut for council tax benefits £594.8( MILLION lost) C 1 MILLION people affected by the freezing of Child Benefit (£1.7 BILLION lost) D 8 27,000 people affected by changes to Local Housing Allowance (£2.43 BILLION lost) E 700,000 people affected by the limitation of Work Related Activity Group (WRAG) (£4.4 BILLION lost) F 608,000 people affected by cuts to Incapacity Benefit £5.6( BILLION lost) G 545,300 people affected by uprating and cuts to tax credits: (£370 MILLION lost) H 475,900 people affected by1% cap o n various benefits and tax credits (£457 MILLION lost) I 4 46,000 people affected by changes to Universal Credit (£2.62 BILLION lost) J 420,000 people affected by the Bedroom Tax (£1.1 BILLION lost) K 142,000 people affected by overall Benefit Cap £2( BILLION lost) *AUSTERITY here refers to economic conditions created L 21,000 people affected by the by government measures to reduce public spending in UK A 913,138 in 2013-2014 TRUSSELL TRUST (2013-2018). Latest Stats. SOURCE abolition of the Independent the since 2008. United Kingdom: Food Bank Network. [Accessed 15 B 1,084,604 in 2014-2015 August 2018]. Living Fund (£1.2 BILLION lost) DISABLED PEOPLE AGAINST CUTS and RECLAIMING OUR C 1,109,954 in 2015-2016 FUTURES ALLIANCE (2017). Shadow Report from the Reclaiming Our Futures Alliance on the UK Initial Report D 1,182,954 in 2016-2017 on the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with E 1,332,952 in 2017-2018 Disabilities. SOURCE [Accessed 17 August 2018]. 60 61

RESEARCH Hito Steyerl and the Serpentine Galleries have The Reclaiming Our Futures Alliance Constantine Gras worked with a series of research partners to ROFA is an alliance of Disabled People and Constantine Gras is a multimedia artist who PARTNERS gather data and testimony concerning inequality their organisations (DPOs) in England who have works with archives to explore the link between as well as to develop the Power Walks programme. joined together to defend disabled people’s rights memory, emotion and history. This involves and campaign for an inclusive society. ROFA original research and culminates in multi Architects for Social Housing fights for equality for disabled people in England stranded projects with collaborative input from ASH responds architecturally to London’s and works with sister organisations across other artists or participants. Filmmaking is at housing ‘crisis’. They organise working collectives the UK in the tradition of the international the expressive heart of his practice. His films of architects, urban designers, engineers, housing disability movement. They base their work on the employ a dialectical approach to image making campaigners to offer support, advice and social model of disability, human and civil rights that produce meditative, elegiac outcomes. expertise to residents who feel their interests in line with the UN Convention on the Rights of Constantine was the first community artist to be and voices are increasingly marginalised by local Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). They oppose employed by the V&A Museum. He has recently councils or housing associations during the the discriminatory and disproportionate attacks worked as artist in residence at both Lancaster so-called ‘regeneration’ process. Their primary on disabled people’s rights by past and current West and Silchester estates in North Kensington, responsibility is to existing residents — tenants Governments. Alliance member organisations working with residents who live in the shadow of and leaseholders alike; but are also committed have been at the forefront of campaigning Grenfell Tower. to finding financially, socially, economically and against austerity, welfare reform and inequality. environmentally viable alternatives to estate demolition that are in the interests of the wider Unite the Union Hotel Workers’ Branch London community. The Hotel Workers’ Branch of Unite the Union has been campaigning for many years to raise Disabled People Against Cuts the profile of the plight of hotel workers. They DPAC was formed by a group of disabled people develop strategies to organise the hotel workforce after the 3rd October 2010 mass protests against in the face of ongoing resistance from employers. cuts in Birmingham, England. DPAC is for everyone who believes that disabled people should The Voice of Domestic Workers have full human rights and equality. It is for The Voice of Domestic Workers is an education everyone that refuses to accept that any country and campaigning group calling for justice and can destroy the lives of people just because they rights for Britain’s sixteen thousand migrant are or become disabled or have chronic health domestic workers. They provide educational issues. It is for everyone against government and community activities for domestic workers austerity measures which target the poor while - including English language lessons, drama leaving the wealthy unscathed. It is for everyone and art classes, and employment advice, and who refuses to stay silent about the injustices mount rescues for domestic workers stuck with delivered by wealthy politicians on ordinary abusive employers. Their work seeks to end people and their lives. discrimination and protect migrant domestic workers living in the UK by providing or assisting in the provision of education, training, healthcare and legal advice. 62 63

ARTIST BIOGRAPHY Hito Steyerl (b. 1966, , ) is a the Art Institute of Chicago, and E-flux, filmmaker, visual artist, writer, and innovator New York (2012). Group exhibitions include of the essay documentary. She is currently a the German Pavilion, 56th , professor of New Media Art at the University Venice, Italy; the Hannover Kunstverein, of the Arts, Berlin. Steyerl has produced a variety Hannover, Germany; CAC Vilnius, Vilnius, of work both as a filmmaker and author in the Lithuania (2015); Cut to Swipe, Museum of field of essayist documentary filmography and Modern Art, New York; The Darknet, Kunst Halle post-colonial critique, both as a producer and Sankt Gallen, Switzerland; Bienal de la Imagen theorist. Steyerl has had solo exhibitions at the en Movimiento, Goethe-Institut Buenos Aires, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles Argentina (2014); The Way of the Shovel: Art as (2016); Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Archaeology, MCA Chicago; Nine Artists, Walker Sofia, , Spain; Artists Space, New York; Art Centre, Minneapolis; Stedelijk Museum, Institute of Modern Art, Brisbane, Australia Amsterdam, The Netherlands; Bergen Triennial, (2015); Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven, The Bergen, Norway, and the 55th Venice Netherlands; ICA, London, UK; Künstlerhaus Biennale (2013). Stuttgart, Germany (2014); Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago (2013); 64 65

LIST OF WORKS

Power Plants Power Plants OS Actual RealityOS Power Walks 6 scaffold structures with 240 LED panels Open source augmented reality application, Open source augmented reality application 4 documentations of Power Walks through 3.9mm pitch, videos, vinyl text, sound, micro- iPads, LED panels 3.9mm pitch for iOS and Android devices Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens, London cemented seats Video 8 min. each, colour, sound, 8 wireless Graphic Design, Typography, With The Voice of Domestic Workers, headphones, scaffold structure, 16 LED panels Production: AR Design and Production: Architects for Social Housing, Unite the Union 3.9mm pitch Serpentine Galleries, Ayham Ghraowi with Matt Wolff, Hrefna Hotel Workers’ Branch, Disabled People Against ADi Solutions, ADi AV Sigurðardóttir, and Ben Ganz Cuts and The Reclaiming Our Futures Alliance. With Architects for Social Housing, Disabled Installation design support: AR development and modeling: People Against Cuts, The Voice of Domestic Manuel Reinartz, Emiliano Pistacchi Ivaylo Getov, Luxloop with Caco Peguero, Graphic Design, Typography, Workers and artist Constantine Gras Initial prediction algorithm United Futures and Robert Gerdisch AR Design and Production: and technical advisory: 3D models: Ayham Ghraowi with Matt Wolff, Hrefna Production: Damien Henry Max Schmoetzer Sigurðardóttir, and Ben Ganz Serpentine Galleries Neural video system: Micro-cemented markers production: AR development and modeling: Sonification of economic inequality data: Jules Laplace Philipp Von Frankenberg and Ivaylo Getov, Luxloop with Caco Peguero, Bethany Barrett, Jules Laplace Sample RNN production: Jamie Bracken Lobb United Futures and Werkflow Camera: Damien Henry Production coordinator: Production and data set collection: Ben Pollard, Will Hazell Camera: Hanna Mattes Serpentine Galleries Sound: Savas Boyraz, Takashi Commissioned by: Music: Ben Gandy Video post-production: Serpentine Galleries Jules Laplace, Bethany Barrett Assistant: Christoph Manz Artist studio production coordinator: David Dawson Vinyl Design: Courtesy of the Artist, Andrew Kreps Gallery Hanna Mattes Ayham Ghraowi (New York) and Esther Schipper Gallery (Berlin) Marker production: Thanks to: Artist studio production coordinator: Philipp Von Frankenberg Alice Conconi, Jules Laplace, Hanna Mattes Thanks to: Commissioned by: Andrew Kreps, Esther Schipper, Seat Production: Ayham Ghraowi, Alice Conconi, Damien Henry, Serpentine Galleries Amal Khalaf, Hans Ulrich Obrist, Philipp Von Frankenberg Jules Laplace, Freya Murray, Anton Vidokle, Ben Vickers, Amira Gad, Kay Watson, and Jamie Bracken Lobb Ben Vickers, Asakusa Osaka Koichiro and Elizabeth Graham, Holly Shuttleworth, Soundtrack: Takashi, Emiliano Pistacchi, Manuel Reinartz, Eva Jäger, John Kelly, Ellen Clifford, Kojey Radical, Susumu Yokota. Milos Trakilovic, Gago Gagoshidze, Adnan Linda Burnip, Marissa Begonia, Produced by The Vinyl Factory Yildiz, Andrew Kreps, Esther Schipper, Leah Mary Balquen, Geraldine Dening, Video co-commissioned by: Turner, Amal Khalaf, Hans Ulrich Obrist, Simon Elmer, Constantine Gras, Serpentine Galleries and The Store X Amira Gad, Kay Watson, Elizabeth Graham, Ayham Ghraowi, Diego Duenas, Holly Shuttleworth, Eva Jäger, Diego Duenas, Emily Wright and The Royal Parks. Courtesy of the Artist, Andrew Kreps Gallery and Emily Wright. (New York) and Esther Schipper Gallery (Berlin)

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PROJECT TEAM Research Partners Serpentine Galleries Project Team Production Team and Power Walks Team Amira Gad, Exhibitions and Architecture Curator ADi AV: Architects for Social Housing: Mike Gaughan, Gallery Manager Sara Smith, Ant Marlow, Josh Love Geraldine Dening, Simon Elmer Elizabeth Graham, Assistant Projects Curator ADi Solutions: Disabled People Against Cuts: Eva Jäger, Assistant Digital Curator Angus Howie, Gabe Stones Ellen Clifford, John Kelly, Linda Burnip Amal Khalaf, Projects Curator Bethany Barrett Unite the Union Hotel Workers’ Branch: Holly Shuttleworth, Producer Savas Boyraz Dave Turnbull Ben Vickers, Chief Technology Officer Jamie Bracken Lobb The Voice of Domestic Workers: Kay Watson, Digital Curator Joseph Constable Marissa Begonia and Mary Balquen Philipp von Frankenberg Reclaiming Our Futures Alliance Benjamin Ganz Constantine Gras Ivaylo Getov, Luxloop Piers Thompson Ayham Ghraowi Damien Henry Julian Laplace Christoph Manz Hanna Mattes Caco Peguero, United Futures Manuel Reinartz Hrefna Sigurðardóttir Takashi Matt Wolff HITO STEYERL PROJECT SUPPORTED BY

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