The social democratic newspaper Arbeiterwille, founded in Graz in 1890, promoted the emancipation of the working class through self-organization, resistance, and education over a period of forty-four years before being banned. Using this historical publication as a starting point, this artistic contribution focuses on the current possibilities for collective self-understanding in the midst of neoliberal and global technological and environmental changes.
Most recently, the fight against the pandemic accelerated the processes of flexibilization and automation of digital capitalism, which has not only led to apathy, alienation, and social isolation, but has also changed the conditions of collective bargaining. How can we identify an Arbeiterwille (worker’s will) as the basis for community building today? A discursive installation demonstrates what is hidden behind media representations of high-tech work and poses the question of new possibilities for collectivization and political action.
