Aspirations and Exasperations



About

PUBLICS: Aspirations and Exasperations is an ongoing interview project that began in 2021 to consolidate the mixed feelings of working in the ‘creative economy’ during times of neoliberal crisis ordinary, increasingly saddled by socio-political, ecological, and epidemiological tipping points. Interviewees are cultural workers from a variety of fields, working conditions, and identities. Most interviewees are kept anonymous. In this process of co-research, interviewees were also encouraged to conduct their own interviews with their colleagues. Snippets from this sprawling web of conversations are published on our website, touching on themes not limited to precarity, self-exploitation, care work, digitalization, and government grants





Precariats Undoing Bullshit Labour In Cultural Spheres (PUBLICS) is a research initiative examining, articulating, and building support networks against conditions of precarity entrenched within ‘creative economies’, touching not only on cultural labour, but also the mental, social, and physical well-being of cultural workers.

Projects relating to PUBLICS include Sleep Study and Aspirations and Exasperations




Acknowledgements

Co-organizers: Kamiliah Bahdar, Johann Yamin, Marcus Yee
Web development and design: Marcus Yee
Editor: Marcus Yee 
Copyediting: Kamiliah Bahdar
Interviewers: Kamiliah Bahdar, Tan Biyun, Rifqi Amirul Rosli, Jacky Wong, Johann Yamin, Marcus Yee

We thank all interviewees who have generously allowed us to share their experiences on this platform.

This project is part of Beyond Repair by soft/WALL/studs, commissioned under Proposals for Novel Ways of Being, an initiative by National Gallery Singapore and Singapore Art Museum.