New zine: Togi nasmehi / Stiff Smiles

Tea Hvala
Togi nasmehi / Stiff Smiles
Ljubljana, 2013
A5, 32 pages, 7 b/w photos
in Slovene / English

A pesimmistic take on the flexibilisaton of labour, or an essay comparing what cannot be compared: long-term, collective and manual labour during the era of Yugoslav state socialism with, on the other hand, individual, flexible, and project-based intellectual work from home in postsocialist times.

With whom are you to take a picture, if you are a contract worker, if your jobs come and go? With whom, if your co-workers constantly change, and with whom, if you work from the employer’s home or even in your own room?
 
The flexible job, if she has one, dictates her sloppiness, distance, risk, mobility. Therefore, when she wishes for safety, she feels old. When she wishes for permanence and stability, she feels like a coward. When she commits herself to her work completely, she is regarded as naive. When she tries more than it is necessary, she gets the feeling of being foolish. When she tries to construct her own life story from countless fragments, she feels like she has nothing to lean on. Sometimes she feels like she doesn’t even exist. How is she to face all this uncertainty? 

Requests via tea.hvala at gmail.com. Trades welcome!

The zine features a modified version of the essay, first published in: Aleš Čar, Tanja Petrič (eds.): The State of Matters: Anthology of Perspectives & Reflections, Ljubljana, UMco, 2012, pp. 82-85 (Slovene version in: Aleš Čar, Tanja Petrič (ur.): Stanje stvari: Antologija Perspektiv & refleksij, Ljubljana, UMco, 2012, str. 82-85.)