THE END OF SLEEP — Capitalist sublime 2016
5.1 surround sound and 9-monitor display, video duration: 4 min, 2016

In his book 24/7: Late Capitalism and the Ends of Sleep Jonathan Crary talks about the white-crowned sparrow and it's extraordinary ability to stay awake for 7 days during migration. DARPA is researching ways to achieve the same on soldiers, to eliminate the need of sleep during combat.

Relying on time, sound and light, this installation induces uncomfort, pointing out the holistic connections between labor, body, psyche, paranoia, systematic exploitation and way out of the cycle of this post Fordist late capitalism.

A grid of 9-monitor shows 9 window lights filmed from the outside as the lights are turned off at the end of the day. The on and off turning lights of small stores, schools, classrooms create a looping of pulsation. Each view is synchronized to turn dark for a period of time all at once. The monitors are the only light source in the gallery, and as lights turn off, the space changes to pitch dark. An abstract representation of the capitalist sleep/work cycle—the demanding rhythm of lights on life and labor. The sound picks up the tempo of the heart in a surround sound track. The composition is made from field recordings of downtown Chicago streets and stores. What is capitalism sounds like?