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Posted On: August 12th 2026, 07:18 am
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THROWBACK: ISSUE #6 DO (NOT) DISTURB
In their essay « Work-Art-Balance: On the Labour of Attention, Subversion, and Neoliberal Subject Production in Pilvi Takala’s The Trainee (2008) », @bask4t examines how Pilvi Takala’s performance reveals the often invisible rules that structure contemporary work in post-Fordist capitalism. By engaging only in « brain work » that avoids sociable behaviour and material visibility — such as typing or displaying busyness — Takala disrupts workplace conventions. Drawing on theories of immaterial labour and neoliberal subject formation, Ripea foregrounds attention itself as a regulated form of labour, while reflecting on the entanglement of artistic critique with capitalist production.
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Kat Ripea @bask4t is an art historian, writer, and critic specializing in contemporary art and culture. Grounded in Neo-Marxist tradition and queer sensibilities, their work is particularly interested in radical potentialities and cultures of critique. Previous curation for Kleine Humboldt Galerie, writing and editing for K. Verlag, taz, PASSE-AVANT, FLORETS Magazine. Kat is currently a graduate student of Art and Visual History at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, where they also work for the Chair of Art and New Media.
Read their full essay via our link in bio!
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Image: Pilvi Takala, The Trainee, 2008. Image © Pilvi Takala 2026. Courtesy the artist; Carlos/Ishikawa, London; and Stigter Van Doesburg, Amsterdam.
In their essay « Work-Art-Balance: On the Labour of Attention, Subversion, and Neoliberal Subject Production in Pilvi Takala’s The Trainee (2008) », @bask4t examines how Pilvi Takala’s performance reveals the often invisible rules that structure contemporary work in post-Fordist capitalism. By engaging only in « brain work » that avoids sociable behaviour and material visibility — such as typing or displaying busyness — Takala disrupts workplace conventions. Drawing on theories of immaterial labour and neoliberal subject formation, Ripea foregrounds attention itself as a regulated form of labour, while reflecting on the entanglement of artistic critique with capitalist production.
•
Kat Ripea @bask4t is an art historian, writer, and critic specializing in contemporary art and culture. Grounded in Neo-Marxist tradition and queer sensibilities, their work is particularly interested in radical potentialities and cultures of critique. Previous curation for Kleine Humboldt Galerie, writing and editing for K. Verlag, taz, PASSE-AVANT, FLORETS Magazine. Kat is currently a graduate student of Art and Visual History at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, where they also work for the Chair of Art and New Media.
Read their full essay via our link in bio!
•
Image: Pilvi Takala, The Trainee, 2008. Image © Pilvi Takala 2026. Courtesy the artist; Carlos/Ishikawa, London; and Stigter Van Doesburg, Amsterdam.
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