Excellent round-up from the stern-but-fun digital magazine Mute on a concept I've been keeping my eye on for a year now - precarity. It's an attempt by the more militant types in the creative community to acknowledge their 'precarious' existence - short-contract, project-based, though fuelled by camraderie and sharing - and connect it to other 'precarious' workers (migrants and asylum seekers, or retail workers, for example). Can they find a common identity?
The Meta-Mutants are sceptical (as are other interactivists). But I have to say I'm thrilled at the activism of the Italian group Chainworkers, who (among other stunts) have created a new saint of the precariat - Punto San Precario (pictured above, and for the linguists, a French interview with him). Apparently San Precario can be seen in supermarket malls, in full benedictory pose, bemoaning the plight of flexible workers.
I know I've been theorising about a 'soulitariat' which tries to align its meaning and values with its technology and networks... but this is almost too good to be true.
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