Veronica Viacava

How To Do Nothing exists at the intersection between performance, labour and stillness, finding its roots in post-capitalist theory and Albert Camus' definition of the absurd. By juxtaposing and accumulating materials I encounter everyday in my work environment and objects that often belong to construction sites, I am building a common ground between the tragic fate the workers share. The concurrent anxiety derived by the necessity of producing in late capitalism is contrasted by the quietness and uselessness of the resting objects and structures photographed. The camera is used as an observational and conscious tool that favours the disruption of the production cycle and the alienation of the worker vital to capitalism itself. The work lingers on the essentiality of labour for human purpose; as Sisyphus repetitively rolls his rock up the mountain only to have it roll back down to the bottom, he acknowledges that there is nothing more to life than the task at hand and he finally finds solace in the same act he was eternally condemned to perform. How To Do Nothing stems from the possibility of doing in non-capitalist terms through stillness, reflection and, concurrently, agency.