ABSTRACT
The representation of labour and workers is considered in relation to the Labour project by Antje Ehmann and Harun Farocki and their workshop participants in several countries, and in the work of contemporary visual moving-image artists. Different methods of production and aesthetic choices are analyzed, particularly in relation to ideas of objectivity and observation versus creative invention when artists collaborate with workers and mix observation with extensive workshopping and theatrical staging for the camera. Simms focuses on various significant geopolitical sites and situations, including the Chinese-Laotian border, undocumented Guatemalan day labourers in San Francisco, a maid-training agency in Indonesia, and textile workers in the garment district in Manhattan.
