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Hardly Working, 2021
Total Refusal (Susanna Flock, Robin Klengel, Leonhard Müllner, Michael Stumpf)

Bildunterschrift

‘Do we, the NPCs of a political economy that controls, exploits and alienates us, have the possibility to rebel against the absurdity of our activities?’ (Total Refusal)

Total Refusal takes the video game Red Dead Redemption 2, played millions of times, as the basis for a reflection on the capitalist concept of labour. The projections show recurring work processes and bring characters from the background of the digital stage scenery into the spotlight – NPCs stands for Non-Playable Characters. These figures sweep roads, mine ore or plough fields. Their manual labour is endlessly repeated, but is stuck in meaningless, backdrop-like loops. This is a depiction of work as such – it is the background to the action and forms the basic rhythm for the construction of normality. As a pure occupation, however, it does not change the status quo, but is instead a fruitless end in itself.