Market of Immaterial Labours Critique- Zoe Mitchell

Market Critique- Zoe Mitchell

In Michael Hardts ‘Affective Labor,’ it is stated, “The other face of immaterial labor is the affective labor of human contact and interaction.” (95) This is what I perceived as the mode of exchange used in The Market of Immaterial Labors. All of the stalls provided an exchange of human interaction as their key objective, whether it is by giving a gift to each participator, or exchanging something with them. While there wasn’t a dominant theme or visual connection between each of the stalls, I believe that each stall connected back to the overall idea of exchanging an action or gift, which created a high level of interaction between everyone within the market.

One of the most enjoyable stalls was the Quilt making stall, where each participator designed a square that was then sewn into a quilt to be given to the Wellington Children’s Hospital. The exchange of labor to create a gift could then be given to a good cause, creating human connection outside of the market aswell. Each participator was then rewarded by receiving a coffee in exchange for their labour.

Another stall used the exchange of knowledge that returned to you in the form of a gift- in this case being a ‘tattoo’. By giving in knowledge of interests, they then gave back to the participator in the form of a stamp on their hand representing that knowledge given.

A third was the ‘beach de-stress’ where a cup of lemonade was given in exchange for writing down something stressful in life. The participator was then directed to a ‘beach’ area where they could relax and let go of the stress.

The mode of exchange added to the overall enjoyment of the market, leaving participators with a happy smile on their faces. Each stall demonstrated the use of gift giving and interaction, which ultimately I felt was what made the market an affective form of labour.

My Critique of Immaterial Labours Market

"This is the most immediate sociological and anthropological implication of the passage of economic paradigms. Information, communication, knowledge and affect come to play a foundational role in the production process." (M. Hardt 2003 )

From the reading I assume that the market place I will be walking into will focus more on the exchange of feelings, memories or thoughts for some form of reward in return be it information or knowlege.

Overall at the entrance of the immaterial labours market we were welcomed by caution tape and construction site equipment. This gave the impression the we would be working for a reward and providing the ‘labour’ in a form of time banking. However overall the system of exchange was information or feelings  such as stress, secrets or a personal memories, in exchange for a gift. This worked well however not all groups had the same system of exchange, e.g. one group had a quilt which was given to someone else and it did not feel like exchange but time banking for someone else benefit. As Hardt states most services are based on the exchange of ideas and information which benefits both parties involved. Therefore, I feel like the quilt group followed the theme of immaterial labours the best as participants passed on their creative ideas by designing a panel. Participants were given a reward in the form of  hot beverage but the end product would be given to a children's hospital thus continuing the transfer of ideas.

Overall there was a variety of different offerings, however a few market stalls did not actively  participants in and few explained how they had interpreted the brief.  One of the strongest stalls in my opinion was in the dark room as participants we worked for our own reward, You had to spin the wheel and provide lighting thus giving your own energy, time and belongings to produce our own reward - the film as seen in the image below.

The final offering which I believe expressed immaterial labours in a unique was was the secrets group, participants would remove the burden of keeping a secret and the reward was a feeling of acceptance as all secrets could be viewed anonomously. 

The overall flow of the market worked very well as we did not wait in a queue and could go to whatever stall we wanted whenever we wanted.

Critique review

The market of immaterial labours didn't have much of a flow - which was good and bad. it meant that if there was a line at a stall, you could just go to another one, but also I felt it removed some of the market feel - there were a lot of empty spaces and I ended up walking back and forth a lot. I also felt like there wasn't as much of an atmosphere  throughout the whole market - it felt like the stalls were very separate. If the construction theme from the entrance/exit was more incorporated on the inside of the market, that might have helped.

Although they were generally all interesting and entertaining, it wasn't always apparent how the stalls related to immaterial labours. Most of them generally involved doing something - sometimes this involved thinking or problem solving (a symbolic-analytical service) but some didn't, for example the drawing ones. Other stalls had human contact and interaction - for example mindsketch, where they draw your conversation with the stall member,

 or the pillow talk stall - having a conversation with another marketgoer about a topic. I found that a lot of the stalls didn't really communicate how their stall fitted with the theme, or what their system of exchange was. In some, the thing you made would be given or exchanged, (like the quilt to the children's hospital, which was apparently in exchange for coffee/tea but I wasn't told that)

 but for the most part it wasn't obvious. Aside from the fact that it wasn't always obviously related to the theme, I found the stalls to be engaging and interesting. I especially liked the choose your own adventure stall because the story was fun. I also thought the beach/relaxing one was a good use of the space and was interesting for all the senses.

Group Review Critic - Kristen, Laya, Kate, George, Zoe

Market of Immaterial Labours – Reviewer/Critic – Team 38 Kristen, Laya, Kate, George, Zoe

In the Market of Immaterial Labours, “information, communication, knowledge and affect come to play a fundamental role in the production process” (Hardt, 93).  Although the stalls generally involved some kind of labour – making or doing something, thinking or problem solving, and/or interacting with people, they often didn’t communicate this clearly enough. We felt that they weren’t cohesive enough with the entrance/exit theme, and there wasn’t as much of an atmosphere. Although some had systems of exchange, this often wasn’t communicated, but we inferred that for the most part it was the exchange of doing or creating something, and getting something back. However, the individual stalls were generally very engaging and entertaining.

For example, Quilt for a Cause involved contributing to a quilt for the children’s hospital, and getting coffee or tea in exchange.  The zoetrope stall, where you spin the wheel and provide the light giving your own time and energy for the reward – an animation.  In the secrets stall, you gave your secrets in exchange for humour and relief. Overall the market was enjoyable and well put together as a collective.

Market Critic Review - Kristen Mabey

Market of Immaterial Labours – Reviewer/Critic

The Market of Immaterial Labours was something understood as an exchange of time and labour for a reward. The market was interesting and interactive and something that was enjoyed by many, when progressing through the market people would be required to interact for a reward or form of satisfaction. A quote that related to the market is “Immaterial Labour is the affective labour of human contact and interaction” (Hardt 95). This was understood more and more as the market progressed and as stallholders were requiring participants’ actions to do and create something.

A part of the market that was enjoyable was the quilting where you were making a quilt for a cause. The idea of your labour and creations helping a good cause and also personally getting rewarded with a drink was a really enjoyable stall (see images below).

The market offerings varied from physical creations, such as the quilting stall to actions/experiences in the ‘Constructing Your Image’ stall that required drawing with others to create a collaborated image (see left image below). A third interactive experience, which was particularly enjoyable, was lighting and spinning a wheel to experience an interesting projection (see right image below).

The overall atmosphere from this market was really relaxed and enjoyable, moving throughout the market contributing time and labour for rewards and interaction with different tasks. This market atmosphere was very interesting and enjoyable with the right amount of people to create a positive interactive enjoyable atmosphere.