DIARIOS DE TRABAJOS / WORK DIARIES / 2020
2 channels Video / 18:00 min
Work Diaries consists of a compilation of video diaries that Paula Ábalos has created where she documents her time in different service jobs she has performed (in Chile and Germany) parallel to her artistic work to cover her costs of living.
In these autobiographical videos, which she first shot with her cellphone and later with hidden cameras, Ábalos appears working as a supermarket promoter, a kitchen assistant, preparing sausages in a stadium, cleaning in a fitness studio and working in a package distribution center. These videos emphasize the different times and rhythms of each work and describe - by voice over and texts - her tasks, the places of work and her perspective on her work and the workplace. Thus, it shows the contrast between the impersonal appearance of the locations and her personal view after remaining in them for hours.
This video diaries are a way of recovering the lost time in which the author rents her body to companies, trying to reappropriate those hours, so they don't vanish.
The project originates from the situation of not having time to develop her artistic work after having worked for a long time in a supermarket. Thus, the author decided to transform the space of her job into her studio, trying to materialize her observations in videos and notes. Methods she keeps up in current jobs.
This project can be screened either as a single work or as individual parts. It can be shown either in a traditional cinema space or as a multi-monitor gallery installation.
