Louis Quail
Desk job
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Cover: Accountant, commodities, financial futures and options trading firm, London 2006
Metal Trader, commodities, financial futures and options trading firm, London 2006
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IT Worker, online share brokers, Leeds 2007
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Bargaining Unit Assistant, public and commercial services union, London 2006
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Broker, commodities, financial futures and options trading firm, London 2006
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Receptionist, IT outsourcing provider, Moscow 2004
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Internal Auditor, asset management firm, Phnom Penh 2010
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Internal Auditor, asset management firm, Phnom Penh 2010
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Consultant and Structural Engineer (with interns), property developers, Phnom Penh 2010
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Director (Licensing Department), Department of Tourism and Marketing, Dubai 2008
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Marketing Executive, Department of Tourism and Marketing, Dubai 2008
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Administration Assistant (Hotel Classification), Department of Tourism and Marketing,Dubai 2008
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The work here explores office life around the globe. Office life, perversely, can be beguiling: the furniture, rituals, dress code – mundane but fascinating – if one knows where to look. What this project is really about however, is globalisation. Wherever we are, office life is similar: we share the same computers (Dell, IBM) and software (Microsoft); we even work for the same companies owned by other companies we have probably never heard of. The technology and information revolutions have continued the processes started in the industrial revolution; unifying and simplifying human procedure. Work in the office like factory work is often reduced to a series of simple interactions.Desk Job crosses continents and nations but the treatment shrinks the world by documenting a similar daily struggle. The brash use of flash accentuates the idea that their environment overwhelms these subjects. The repetition of motifs; phones, pot plants, in trays reinforces uniformity and the employee is defined
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by the few cubic meters around them. The homogeneity enforced by corporate life is concerning. However, we also see resistance. Companies strive for uncluttered office spaces, whereas individuals have an urge to colonise. There is humour in this conflict. Although this project was started before the global recession, it is particularly relevant today. The project arose as an anxious response to the increasing power of the corporation; unrestrained by social or democratic accountability. Corporate law in many countries inhibits executives and corporations from being socially responsible; the purpose of the corporation is simply to make money for shareholders. One intention behind the project was to raise questions about this and our relationships to employer and company. This concern seems percipient now as post 2007, we seem more able to understand that capitalism unfettered can result in catastrophic consequences. Hopefully, seeing the worker oblivious to the
machinations of the CEO, heroically navigating their way through the day’s tasks, will inspire empathy and a recognition of our commonality across society, continent and corporation. In these pictures we see the tension between employer and employee, but ultimately workers are intrinsic to the organisations they serve and there is an underlying hopeful message. It may not be immediately obvious but the community’s need to improve its environment is almost always a response to the individual’s struggle. US Candidate for Senate, Elizabeth Warren made a very good point in a recent speech: “Corporations are not people. People have hearts; they have kids, they get jobs, they get sick, they cry, they dance, they live, they love, and they die. And that matters, because we don’t run this country for corporations, we run it for people.” It echoes the impulse behind these pictures perfectly.
Louis Quail
Project Manager, electricity and gas supplier, Berlin, Connecticut, USA 2007
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Sales Assistant, Real Estate Office,Beijing 2011
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Architect Partner, Architectural Design and Planning firm, Beijing 2011
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Trader, Commodities, financial futures and options, London 2006
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Call Centre Agent, call centre, Cape Town 2007
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Assistant Architects, Chinese Architecture Design and Research Institute, Beijing 2011
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Editor (Local News Section), daily newspaper, Berlin 2008
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Editor (Local News Section Berlin & Brandenburg), daily newspaper, Berlin 2008
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Editor, daily newspaper, Berlin 2008
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Design Department, daily newspaper, Berlin 2008
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Design Department, daily newspaper, Berlin 2008
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Financial Adviser, local goverment, Economic & European Advice Bureau, Berlin 2008
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Prouction Manager, visual merchandising and displays firm, New York 2007
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Team Supervisor, Customer Service Representative, electricity and gas supplier, Berlin, Connecticut, USA 2007
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Customer Service Representative, electricity and gas supplier, Berlin, Connecticut, USA 2007
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Human Resources Director, aluminium manufacturing foundry, Cape Town 2007
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Editor: Christophe Dillinger Layout: Charlotte Farmer Assistant: Francesca Solloway Published by squaremag (uk) cic, registered in 2014. Reg number: 08933748 Year of publication: 2015 All works presented in these pages are copyrighted. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owners.
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Squares to make the world go round Des carrĂŠs pour faire tourner le monde
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