FIELD NOTES: Contemporary Pleasure

FIELD N OT E S 28-Page Contemporary Pleasure Book Durable Materials / Made in the U.S.A

working for pleasure

Google Office Dublin

working for pleasure Both the mythical figure of the lumberjack and the shepherd of the pastoral have a defined relationship to the notion of the everyday and the production and working of the land. Comparing this with the contemporary situation of work, where the dynamics between work and recreation are becoming vague and less defined, mediation to network, camp to gain office unity, work seems to be becoming ever more casual, pleasurable, and mixed with everyday actions. Thus, this ambiguity continues to be present in the notion of pleasure within the new pleasure gardens, where working becomes a pleasurable act once more. Working the land is mixed with simply working, creating environs open to the mix between actions and activities that this implies.

Maerten Ryckaert Pastoral Landscape

the common pleasure Common land is land, usually in private ownership that has rights of common over it. The main features of common land are that it is generally open, unfenced and remote - particularly in the upland areas of England and Wales.

Rights of common can include: Grazing sheep or cattle (herbage) Taking peat or turf (turbary) Taking wood, gorse or furze (estovers) Taking of fish (piscary) Eating of acorns or beechmast by pigs (pannage) The people who are able to exercise the rights listed above are generally known as ‘commoners’ and exercise this pleasureable right to common through their actions of exercising their rights. The rights of the common today are still rights that can be related to the pleasure of labor in contemporary society, yet perhaps rather than rights to common for sustinence, it is rights to common for meaningless sake, as Sisyphus pushes his boulder up the mountain.

Plan of a Midaeval Manor, England Enclosure Map

the absurd pleasure The legend of Sisyphus describes a man punished to push a boulder up a mountain over and over again, for all eternity. Albert Camus, in his book, the Myth of Sisyphus, sees Sisyphus as the absurd hero who lives life to the full, hates death, and is condemned to a meaningless task. His pointless toil is a reflection of contemporary working life in jobs and factories, yet by reaching a state of acceptance with his absurd situation, Sisyphus can indeed become happy, and even reach a state of pleasure.

Sisyphus by Titian, 1549

the pastoral shepherd The pastoral shepherd epitomizes the ideal realtionship between working the land (controlling nature) and the pleasure of it. Usually depicted through picturesque and pastoral paintings, the man alone in the wilderness with animals of his control displays the pleasure associated with the everyday country life of English society. This pleasure, the pleasure of the land and of cultivating food from it, remains a contemporary idea though in alternative form.

Alvan Fisher, Pastoral Landscape

“The perfection of such meadow and glade surfaces is found in nature only in the spring, when the turf is still short and growing evenly, but by shaving the grass at frequent intervals, this perfection can be nearly maintained through the summer.�

Olmsted, Particulars of Construction

The Great Lawn,Central Park, Frederick Law Olmsted

the pleasure of the land Much like the pastoral, the lumberjack and the more recent organic farming movement make the working of the land one of the most pleasurable activities. Through the visual depiction of farming, strong healthy and vital bodies, as well as the more recent video phenomena of farming games, the pleasure of the land is made even more explicit.

Paul Bunyan Lumberjack Original Cartoon

Farmville game: a farming simulation social network game developed by Zynga in 2009. It is similar to Happy Farm, Farm Town, and video games.

Google Image Search: Organic Farm

the nomadic worker “Yet, more than domestic space, the work environment is prone to be affected by technological and societal change, putting its status in permanent flux. Recent advancements in technology have not only led to a greatly reduced floor area per worker, it has also liberated the worker from the office, and the physical environment from its structural role. Particularly in the US, with relatively high mobility and individuality, a nomadic and independent workforce constantly redefines the place of work. Studies show that today two-thirds of office workers are either temporarily or permanently on the move and connect to work online. If the office of today can be anywhere - what do we need from the physical environment?� Florian Idenburg

Coffeeshop - critical mass of working in public

playbour Suggesting a general ‘ludification’ of work, the terms playbour, enterprise gamification, and hackathons all make explicit the merging of leisure and obligation that is now the contemporary work environment. The worksphere has become what the pleasure ground once was, a big social playground, its players a hybrid troop of nomadic urbanites accessorized with a menagerie of technologies (many of which could be categorized as lumbersexuals).

Google Dublin Office Lobby

Google Dublin Office

Google Dublin Office

networking + the event As work becomes less and less place dependent, the idea of networking becomes more and more palpable. Networking, defined by creating relationships between people especially to further one’s career, has become the most ephemeral of the “work� instances outside of the workplace. Cropped up even in instances such as the mediation studio, where for instance one New York City center is taking it upon themselves to offer mediation and networking for a selected group of individuals. The event furthers this idea of the placeless individual, where concerts, conferences, exhibitions and more make the physical gathering of the workplace more important and the place itself of the gathering less.

Industries are transforming from location specific to event specific, a good example being that of the art world with its convention industry. At these temporary gatherings, deals are made, products launched, ideas gathered, connections established.

The desk bound worker is slowly transforming into the never ending vectorial labor continuum, a seamless universe of lobbies, breakout rooms, conference halls, and hotspot charging stations.

Few meditation studios have capitalized on mindful networking more than the Path, which has emerged as a downtown hub for technology and fashion entrepreneurs.The Monday sessions tend to be jammed, and attendees are encouraged to drink tea and mingle after class. Credit Piotr Redlinski for The New York Times

Art Basel Fair

Art Basel Fair

camp + tech free pleasure The extenuation of play and leisure for the concept of self betterment is also made manifest in the idea of the adult summer camp. Such as Camp Grounded, summer camps for adults which propose play, wellness, live music and shows, sports events, dances, detoxes, and more are becoming more popular. One could imagine the camp as a place similar to that which the lumbersexual hopes to occupy in the city, a state of exception in the “wild” where digital technology is put aside and a more intimate relationship with ourselves and “nature” can take place.This is pleasure.

Camp Grounded Website

resources Playbour, Farming, Labor (http://www.ephemerajournal.org/contribution/playbour-farming-and-labour)

Florian Idenburg Harvard GSD Spring Options Studio Description on Work and Event (http:// www.gsd.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/courses/details. cgi?term=201440&course=STU-01317-00)

How to Find a Job With Meditation and Mindfulness (http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/23/ fashion/how-to-find-a-job-with-meditation-andmindfulness.html?_r=0

A Trip to Camp to Break a Tech Addiction (http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/07/fashion/a-trip-to-camp-to-break-a-tech-addiction.html?pagewanted=all)