Studies on health at the workplace are often skeptically received as being more interested in the prospect of robustly healthy workers boosting a business’s productivity than in the well-being of the employees themselves. Despite this skepticism, already as far back as 1900, research into labor was very much informed by a desire to reform. An example of such work is the research on ergonomics, perception, and intellectual work conducted at the University of Zurich’s psychology laboratory.

In her video, Marianne Flotron creates re-enactments that portray tensions experienced at the workplace. Less soothing in nature, Brigitta Bernet’s research shows why modern HR management practice finds itself accused of exploiting employees as a corporate resource, a phenomenon reinforced by an extensive culture of advising and coaching. In stark contrast to this clarity, Valentina Stieger’s furniture sculptures almost defiantly refuse to be conceived in terms of functionality, while Richard Ibghy and Marilou Lemmens present their large-format 3D work-flow charts to make tangible, and to challenge, the empirical objectification of work.