Art Pracice and Other Activities
2017
an external hard drive 1TB and 10 photographs (Lambda prints, 120 x 90 cm and 60 x 40 cm)


After several years of research into free time and artistic work I purchased a 1 TB external hard disk, formatted it, transferred all my data onto it and began to move my files into different folders according to a predetermined plan. I deleted some folders, divided their contents and placed them into new ones. A new kind of archive started taking shape as a result of countless pushing of buttons and clicks of the mouse.

Its basic structure consists of eight folders that appear on the computer screen once the hard drive is connected: Paid Work, Laziness, Unpaid Work, Organised Education, Procrastination, Recreation, Sleep and Free Time. Two of the eight items are empty. I have them on my HDD as a reminder of human activities that have not been fully affected by the cybernetic revolution and make us fully-fledged human beings, namely the folders Laziness and Sleep. The six remaining are full of files and information. Altogether they refer to the most important human activities that take place within our society. Some of them function in pairs, such as paid and unpaid work, free time and recreation, laziness and procrastination. Others function independently, such as organised education and sleep. They do not require a partner, a societal antithesis.

I have a highly specific relationship with this particular HDD. It enabled me to rid myself of the formal view of artistic work. Above all, it made it possible for me to place certain human activities on the same level as work. And for that I owe it my gratitude.

photo: author’s archive and Ondřej Polák