DESTINY (with APHIDS) (2021)
(Moving Image, Site-responsive, Social practice, Video, Work)
DESTINY (2021), is a moving-image work made in collaboration with on-demand or ‘gig economy’ workers, including rideshare drivers, food delivery riders and cleaners, that explores personal and global experiences of the platform economy. Against the backdrop of the historical union stronghold of Melbourne’s Trades Hall, four workers perform work in isolation, fueling an unseen ‘machine’ of platform capitalism: objects are delivered, unwrapped and accumulated en masse. An electric bike weaves around obstacles and entry points. The pace of work builds. Over time, through shared action, the workers transport themselves into a collective space, fleeting but real, of protest and resistance.
Mimicking the form of the eight-hour workday, DESTINY premiered as part of ACCA’s Who’s Afraid of Public Space? as a one-day only offsite project from 2-10pm at Cardigan House Carpark in Carlton in December 2021. Screened on loop throughout the day, DESTINY concluded with a public panel discussion from 4-5pm, furthering the consideration of embodied and racialised labour within the platform economy and how ‘convenience’ is shaping bodies, behaviours and perceptions of time.
DETAILS
4K Single-Channel Moving Image
Dimensions: Variable
Venues: Filmed on location at Trades Hall, Melbourne and a carpark in Maribyrnong, on Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung and Bunurong country
Supporters: ACCA, CoVA, West Space, Trades Hall, RISE
Photos: Video Stills and Public Screening Documentation by Keelan O’Hehir
PROJECT CREDITS
Lead Artist & Director – Eugenia Lim
Co-Creators – Lara Thoms, Mish Grigor
Producer & 1st AD: Alexandra George
Worker-Performers – Wasay, Cher Tan, Jessica Wen, Mirza Baig
Composer – Corin Ileto
Director of Photography – Alex Cardy
Steadicam Op & Gaffer – Han Palmer
Best Person – Joel Green
B-Cam Op – Bonita Carzino
1st AC – Harrison Byrne
Drone Ops – Radar Kane, Josh Labita
Choreographer – Amrita Hepi
Production Designer – Imo Walsh
Wardrobe Designer – Gemma Baxter
Graphic Designer & Project Admin – Rebecca McCauley
Set Fabricator – Stefan Polastri
Art Dept Assistant: Karli Laredo
2nd AD – Priya Pavri
Interpreter – Ching Ching Ho
Translation – Wasay, Eugenia Lim
Sound Recordist – Alex Wakefield
Post Sound Facility – Folklore Sound & Music
Sound Designer – Thom Kellar
Offline Editor – Christine Cheung
Online Editor – Chris Tomkins
Colourist – Dan Stonehouse, Crayon
Crayon Producers – Laura Hesse, Meg Doyle
Special Thanks: Sissy Screens, Steadipalms, Antony Moore and all at Trades Hall, Folklore Sound & Music, Crayon, Jensen Cope, Eben Olson at Reel Locations, Amos Gebhardt, Truce Films, Benjamin Pitt, Ruben Pinzon, Darren Tan, Becky Sui Zhen, anonymous Amazon worker, Grace Herbert and all at Rising, APHIDS Board and Donors, Misha Lee, Nat Cursio, Jessie French, Chris Tomkins, our past EASY RIDERS Worker–Collaborators, Alan Macgill, Melbourne Fringe, Freya Waterson, Collingwood Yards, Jo Porter and QVWC, Max Delany, Miriam Kelly and Annika Kristensen at ACCA, Amelia Wallin, Lana Nguyen, Harpy Film Services, Karli Laredo and Stefan Polastri. Most importantly, we thank our entire team of collaborators and our loved ones for their collective support in realising this ‘labour of love’.
Supported by: The work has been made possible by the Restart Investment to Sustain and Expand (RISE) Fund – an Australian Government initiative; the Australia Council for the Arts, its funding and advisory body, The City of Melbourne through its Triennial Grants program 2018-2020, Creative Victoria through its Organisation Investment Program.
APHIDS would also like to acknowledge the generous funding and support from partners; RISING Festival, the Centre of Visual Art, The University of Melbourne, the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, West Space, Trades Hall and MPavilion.