Stain, 2018

A field school residency at Murmur Land Studios in Saskatchewan, Canada, titled Reanimation and Unsettling: The Politics of Exhaustion.

This project-based inquiry is initiated through an interdisciplinary collaborative residency with a fellow scholar at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. This residency served as an intellectual crucible for generating empirical data and conceptual frameworks that extend beyond traditional disciplinary boundaries. The emergent data from this collaborative engagement delved into many complex subjects, most notably the globalized circuits of production and exchange that characterize contemporary economic systems.

One of the salient themes from this research was the concept of "exhaustion production," a term that encapsulates the perpetual cycle of labor exerted in the production processes that span the globe. This notion of "exhaustion production" is a critical lens to examine the intricate web of labor relations, capital flows, and resource allocation that underpin the global economy. It interrogates the systemic conditions that perpetuate labor exploitation and resource depletion cycles, thereby contributing to a state of collective exhaustion on a planetary scale.

This research project, therefore, not only contributes to academic discourses in the fields of art, economics, and social sciences but also offers a nuanced understanding of the complexities inherent in global production networks. By focusing on the interconnections between labor, capital, and global exchange, the project aims to shed light on the often-overlooked dimensions of production that contribute to social, economic, and environmental imbalances. Through this multi-disciplinary approach, the research serves as both a theoretical and empirical exploration, inviting scholars and practitioners alike to engage in a critical dialogue that extends beyond the immediate findings to encompass broader ethical, sociopolitical, and ecological considerations.