Open 17, A Precarious Existence is a cahier with contributions by Nicolas Bourriaud, Merijn Oudenampsen, Paolo Virno (t.b.c.), Jan Verwoert, Ned Rossiter , Brett Neilson, Pascal Gielen, Brian Holmes, Matteo Pasquinelli and Santiago Ciruged. Most of them we know as participants in the Winter Camp event.
Editors: Jorinde Seijdel and Liesbeth Melis (eds.)
Design: Thomas Buxó and Klaartje van Eijk, Paperback, Illustrated (colour and b/w), 176 pages, 17 x 24 cm
English edition, ISBN 978-90-5662-694-5, € 28.50
Dutch edition, ISBN 978-90-5662-693-8
In association with the Foundation Art and Public Space (SKOR).
Available from May 2009
About the cahier: the For some years now there has been an international discourse around the phenomenon of ‘precariousness’ and ‘precarity’, driven by European social movements as well as by philosophers such as Paolo Virno and Michael Hardt/Antonio Negri. This precariousness denotes the relationship between temporary and flexible working arrangements and a precarious existence – a day-to-day life lacking in predictability or certitude – which determines the living conditions of groups in society that are swelling in number: part-timers, flexiworkers, migrant workers, workers on temporary contracts, illegal workers, and so on.
Precariousness is evident across many layers of society, an upshot of the neoliberal, post-Fordian economy, which emphasizes the immaterial production of information and provision of services in conjunction with unremitting flexibility. Such persistent vulnerability is also evident in the creative industries: flexible production and the outsourcing of work that is typical of the service economy are also the order of the day in the arts, culture and communications sectors.
This edition of Open investigates precarity in a cultural and social context, taking a closer look at the artist as a precarious figure and investigating the conditions that pertain in the precarious city and public space.