CALL FOR CONTRIBUTIONS

A COLLECTION OF SONGS FOR THE IMMATERIAL LABORER

You know the format. You have participated in the format. It is a paradigm of our labor condition. Great.

Dear Friends from the Creative Class, Dear General Immaterial Laborers, Dear Immaterial Labor Generals,

1) Statement

Since ‚project‘ is what are to think about, I recently thought about one. The other day, on my way to the co-working space at Betahaus, I maneuvered my fixie-bike past a server farm, the Google Berlin headquarters and a huge advertising poster draped over the „Haus des Lehrers“, telling me to stop worrying and start to ‚be me‘, all while Bruce Springsteen was bossing away on my iPod-headphones when the project came to me: How about a compilation of songs for the immaterial laborer?! Workers‘ songs had a function to speak about the working conditions, hopes and woes of a certain ‚class‘, they were employed to represent, unify, agitate, to include and create an impression of community.

Sure, workers‘ songs are as much a thing of the past as is the worker lauded in these songs. But would it be possib- le to update the genre of the workers‘ song and its community-building and representational qualities by compi- ling a playlist of songs dealing with immaterial labor? Would it be possible to speak about and recreate an image of the so-labelled Creative Class through a work which compiles not only musical scores but tells us something about positions and conditions these scores emerge out of and form the soundtrack to?

Has Bruce Springsteen ever welded two beams of steel?

2) The Call, nicely wrapped in a Q&A

Q: This is a call for contributions. What do you want from me?

A: Pick a song, any song which you feel speaks about or is connected with or represents immaterial labor and write a brief essay about this song.

This essay could be about the representation of certain values in the song‘s lyrics or , or about the song‘s production circumstances, or about the singer‘s position in relations of labor, or about a certain number of harmonies which were used in an early ad-campaign for Microsoft, or about why you think it is important to have this song in mind when thinking about immaterial labor, or about why you always listen to it while slaving away in that boring job, writing how-to manuals for software-use…

Relate the song to the topic of immaterial labor in any way you wish. Q: How long should this text be?

A: The length of your text should correspond with the average length of a pop-song (= 3:30-4:30 minutes when read, that makes about 450-900 words). You can write in English or in your preferred language (your essay will be translated into English, however).

Q: When‘s the deadline?

A: Please send in your contributions until May, 1st, 2014. That‘s International Worker‘s Day, duh.

Send to [email protected]

Q: How will my contribution be used?

A: I am planning to create a compilation of songs for the immaterial laborer. This compilation will be a playlist of songs, but instead of playing the actual songs, it will play your essays, so your text will be read by someone audio- book-style. Your contribution will carry the name of the artist and the song you wrote about. Possibly, there will be a printed booklet going along with the audio.

Q: Where will the compilation be shown?

A: The compilation will probably be available on SoundCloud as a stream or as a free download somewhere. Also, and maybe more excitingly, the idea is to put it in exhibitions as an audio-walk or an audio tour-replacement, so the visitor can walk around in an exhibition space to look at work and at the same time be confronted with thoughts about immaterial labor.

Q: Will I lose my rights to the text?

A: Of course, you will keep the right to use your text yourself wherever and whenever you wish. However, I would like to ask you to grant me permission to create an audio file from your text, to reproduce the printed versions, distribute them over the internet for free and also use them in exhibition contexts.

You will be credited every time your text is used (in whichever form). It would be great if you could provide me with a 2-3 line bio for proper credits.

Btw, feel free to contribute using an alias if you feel more comfortable with that.

Q: I can‘t think of a song. Do you have any suggestions?

A: Sure. Here‘s a list of possible songs/genres I would relate to immaterial labor to get you started. Choose freely. (My personal preference of corny rap tunes shouldn‘t be imposing on the overall song selection + it doesn‘t have to be contemporary music – if you find a Beethoven piece especially suitable, I‘d be thrilled).

01) – Work, Bitch 02) Talking Heads - Home (Naive Melody) 03) Van McCoy – Do the Hustle 04) Those Brazilian Baile Funk/Funk Carioca tunes 05) Gucci Mane – Me 06) Missy Elliott – Work It 07) Rick Ross – Hustlin‘ 09) Busta Rhymes – Arab Money 10) 12-Year-Olds giving Youtube-tutorials on how to remix Lady Gaga with Ableton 11) Girl Talk‘s music 12) Tupac Shakur – I‘m a Hustler 13) Hot Streak – Body Work

A red dianthus salute,

Till