The series '9to5' is part of the project 'About time'. In this project Thijs Linssen makes clocks that address our experience with time and specifically with the clock. These clocks do not necessarily show the correct time but rather the feeling time; time sometimes goes faster, slower or even stands still. There are now a number of different series and the series '9to5' is about working time and then specifically a standard office working day from 09:00 to 17:00. The works make you think about what role the clock plays in our lives, what a workday feels like and what 'The balcony' very sharply describes also about productivity in post-capitalism. “... looks at the competitive and repetitive cycle of (self) labor in post-capitalism, where labor and leisure often blur into one continuous loop. Endless work is driven by the possibility of leisure and is simultaneously burdened by it, as the individual feels guilty about being unproductive. Do we flirt with capital's fantasy of producing while taking time off? What tricks do we play on ourselves to ward off alienation, keep working and call it rest?” Text The balcony 07-2024 , The Hague The clocks play with the idea of what a (standard) working day is, how it feels and is experienced. And when you are productive and when you are not and any feelings of guilt about this. The clocks simulate these feelings and thoughts by sometimes running very fast as if time flies, giving you a working day of six hours, a long morning and a short afternoon or just an extra long working day of ten hours. E.g., with a ten-hour workday, the clock thus takes ten hours from 09:00 to 17:00. It then appears as if it is 17:00 but in fact it is already 19:00. Then the clock corrects itself so that it runs on time again and you arrive at work at 09:00.
Made possible by Stroomversneller Arnhem/ Schakel025