A Colossal Waste of Time

The project 'A Colossal Waste of Time' is about our shifting relationship to the workplace, mediated by the photographic image. I have been making photographs of the workplace for the last 15 years in various forms. Over that time, the way we engage with the world through photography has dramatically changed. At first, I noticed that people’s behaviour in the workplace was often motivated by boredom. This was evidence of what I call a ‘sculptural desire’, that is, a need to make things; a doodle, a Blu Tack mountain, a bulldog clip creature. The audience for these creations was a local one; fellow office workers. The introduction of social media and the networked image made people behave strangely, their motivations coming instead from a perceived networked audience. Our actions have been amplified by the desire to get likes. People could be found lying on office furniture in a corpse-like pose (planking) or performing a highly elaborate and artfully constructed prank on somebody. Why? To take a photograph and to share it. With the shift to more remote working, Zoom meetings and screen-based interaction came a shift in the ‘work’ environment, surrounding us with household objects rather than work objects. Again, the sculptural desire kicks in. We distract ourselves from the digital work environment with these domestic ‘things’. Tied to the screen, we use our hands, we play. This work contemplates the role photography and technology plays in the creativity of everyday life. It motivates and amplifies our behaviour, but it also makes us want to return to a more physical interaction. The constructed and the performative becomes the language of both the office worker and the artist.