The trembling space: representations of invisible nocturnal labour in London

The principal objective of this research is to examine the notion of 'trembling space' (a nocturnal space of hidden labour), in which the relationship between the spatial materiality of labour (visible and invisible qualities) and Sci-Fi narratives are deployed. By capturing the 'trembling reality' of current manual labour as a form of ghost labour, this dissertation represents visual evidence through interviews, photography and video-based practices, such as video images, video graphics moving pictures and the digital editing of the output of my video-based methods. Moreover, the study also highlights the secret sadness associated with image of labour and labourers resulting from post-Fordist Capitalism as well as the impact of technology. The visualisation represents the nocturnal space of hidden labour via mental, ethical, and historical images. Furthermore, my art works address the ideological narrative of human labour through affective imagery, thereby underpinning and responding to the theoretical and methodological frameworks of Actor- Network Theory (Bruno Latour) and the phenomenology of Merleau-Ponty. My thinking and my field work that includes on site interviews with nocturnal labourers is made manifest in my art works that include a 100-minute video in 10 episodes and sets of collages. These original contexts produce a new form of narrative in order to represent the previously invisible and nocturnal labour of post industrial London. This iteration of my research focuses on London, but my approach could be extended to other post industrial cities reliant on the invisible labour I am seeking to give representation to.