Embodied Knowledge is a commentary and protest of the body as a recording device that tracks the hours spent working and running in the rat race. One is a pawn in the game of life, a fierce competition for wealth and success.

High performance pressure hangs its sharp blade over all who try to make ends meet in an economy that pits one against the other. Anxiety, a fundamental biological response, is an integral component of the human defence mechanism. For most individuals, anxiety is a detrimental emotional state that diverts attention, impairing performance. Bodies are in a constant state of suffering. Every task is expected to be completed immediately, and if an individual can not do it, the next applicant in line will do it and for cheaper within an hyper-competitive and relentless job market.

This project critiques the current state of work-life balance and the effects of the stress and strain the body endures to keep up with the cycles of exploitation. The commodification of labour is not a modern phenomenon within the capitalist systems. We’ve seen it since the days of slavery, tucked neatly into history books and dusty archives. The body records the number of hours we spend behind a computer screen. Bones scream when we stay silent to the stress and pressure that we hold within.

Indian communist group, Kamunist Kranti (Communist Revolution), published A Ballad Against Work in 1997, which is a pamphlet about and against wage labour. Published through the Majdoor Library at NIT Faridabad, India. The publication accounts for the various accounts of stress the body holds due to non-stop working hours. The piece argues that the body is constantly in a state of urgency and anxiety due to the way in which we work.

This publication resonated deeply and personally with me. Within a few years of working, I was suffering from acute body pains. A testimony to the hours behind the screen trying to “succeed”. A black and white graphic sits at my desk reminding me of the stretches I should do while seated at my desk. Table yoga. Ergonomic furniture. Foot rests. Alien-like mouse because there is no time to treat carpal tunnel syndrome.

Pain doesn't spare anyone. Who wins? Who loses? Who screams in pain? Who pays for the pain the body endures? Do those medical bills and pain get added to the client's bills? The research comes together in the proposed media output of my spine X-ray. The “backbone” of labour. Taking inspiration from Bone Records, a black market method of smuggling in and distributing music that was banned from broadcasting in the Soviet Union. The X-rays are cut into vinyl records, and the audio is an hourly work time log, and at every hour, a stretch from the exercise document is prescribed - sometimes sharp on time and sometimes postponed due to work.

This piece stands as a reminder of what the body endures. It is a call for change and revolution in the current state of exploitation.