Laziness Lounge is an interactive sound piece, made in collaboration with Lisa Hall. First exhibited at Tate Modern during Uniqlo Tate Lates, October 2017, we invited participants to collaborate to create an audio soundtrack to relaxation. The work was developed into a performance for Soundlings festival, March 2018, renamed Sonic Sloth – a sound piece using games and chance procedures.
This work is concerned with states of non-production:
Laziness Lounge invites the listener to experience music as a leisure activity that encourages cooperation and unlocks human potential. Calling out to fellow relaxers to harness collective energy, participants used sound mixers to stitch together speeches from some of the heroes of the anti-work movement. Listeners were encouraged to submit themselves to a selection of kitsch ASMR and YouTube’s most played tranquilising sounds.
What would life look like without jobs?
Would you lounge around all day, or would it liberate you to experiment and create?
Could we remodel the world to get everything we need to thrive through spontaneous and undirected play?
As the media warns us that Britain’s ‘productivity’ is falling, Laziness Lounge invites you to enjoy some freedom and reclaim your right to be idle. Some extracts from the piece are below, and we look forward to touring the work to community centres, schools and arts spaces, so as to continue Bob Black’s mission to rid the world of jobs.
Workers of the world, relax!
Pictures from our workshop at Tate Modern