WORK

Andrew Cooper; Dean Kenning; John Russell

WORK

Andrew Cooper (Artist)
, Dean Kenning (Artist)
, John Russell (Artist)

University of Greenwich

Research output: Practice-based/Artistic research › Exhibition

Abstract

Dean contributed two animations, Capital 1 & Capital 2 to the film and installation exhibition WORK by Capital Drawing Club (Andrew Cooper, Dean Kenning, John Russell) at St Chad's Project Space, London (May 2025).

About the exhibition

The animations act out a ceaseless movement of bodies, machines and the market abstractions of labour-derived value (money and prices) as described in Marx’s Capital. Choreographed to a dance music soundtrack, WORK connects the rhythms of industrialised oppression (the repetitive beat of factory machinery) and the commercial standardization of music to an embodied force of revolution and transformation in D.I.S.C.O music, building to a crescendo in the first beats of ‘Club Tropicano' - a (workers) paradise first heralded in the 1970s hit Car Wash. The format draws upon the tradition of industrially produced animations such as Disney’s Sorcerer’s Apprentice sequence in Fantasia, or early Felix the Cat cartoons, where inanimate objects are brought to life, ‘animated’ with convulsive, syncopated force; also ecstatic, communal visions allegorised as threatened woodland animal utopias (Bambi etc.). This imagery is mirrored in Marx’s depictions of vampires, monsters and talking commodities to make visible operations such as surplus value extraction, the domination of machines over workers and commodity fetishism.

Original language	English
Publication status	Published - May 2025
Event	WORK - St Chad's Project Space, London, United Kingdom Duration: 3 May 2025 → 31 May 2025

Bibliographical note

This output follows early animations produced by the Capital Drawing Club for the conference Stayin' Alive: The Many Afterlives of Disco, which took place at University of Exeter Penryn Campus 5-6 July 2024.

Cite this

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title = "WORK",

abstract = "Dean contributed two animations, Capital 1 \& Capital 2 to the film and installation exhibition WORK by Capital Drawing Club (Andrew Cooper, Dean Kenning, John Russell) at St Chad's Project Space, London (May 2025). About the exhibition The animations act out a ceaseless movement of bodies, machines and the market abstractions of labour-derived value (money and prices) as described in Marx{\textquoteright}s Capital. Choreographed to a dance music soundtrack, WORK connects the rhythms of industrialised oppression (the repetitive beat of factory machinery) and the commercial standardization of music to an embodied force of revolution and transformation in D.I.S.C.O music, building to a crescendo in the first beats of {\textquoteleft}Club Tropicano' - a (workers) paradise first heralded in the 1970s hit Car Wash. The format draws upon the tradition of industrially produced animations such as Disney{\textquoteright}s Sorcerer{\textquoteright}s Apprentice sequence in Fantasia, or early Felix the Cat cartoons, where inanimate objects are brought to life, {\textquoteleft}animated{\textquoteright} with convulsive, syncopated force; also ecstatic, communal visions allegorised as threatened woodland animal utopias (Bambi etc.). This imagery is mirrored in Marx{\textquoteright}s depictions of vampires, monsters and talking commodities to make visible operations such as surplus value extraction, the domination of machines over workers and commodity fetishism. ",

author = "Andrew Cooper and Dean Kenning and John Russell",

note = "This output follows early animations produced by the Capital Drawing Club for the conference Stayin' Alive: The Many Afterlives of Disco, which took place at University of Exeter Penryn Campus 5-6 July 2024.; WORK ; Conference date: 03-05-2025 Through 31-05-2025",

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month = may,

language = "English",

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TY - ADVS

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A2 - Cooper, Andrew

A2 - Kenning, Dean

A2 - Russell, John

N1 - This output follows early animations produced by the Capital Drawing Club for the conference Stayin' Alive: The Many Afterlives of Disco, which took place at University of Exeter Penryn Campus 5-6 July 2024.

PY - 2025/5

Y1 - 2025/5

N2 - Dean contributed two animations, Capital 1 & Capital 2 to the film and installation exhibition WORK by Capital Drawing Club (Andrew Cooper, Dean Kenning, John Russell) at St Chad's Project Space, London (May 2025). About the exhibition The animations act out a ceaseless movement of bodies, machines and the market abstractions of labour-derived value (money and prices) as described in Marx’s Capital. Choreographed to a dance music soundtrack, WORK connects the rhythms of industrialised oppression (the repetitive beat of factory machinery) and the commercial standardization of music to an embodied force of revolution and transformation in D.I.S.C.O music, building to a crescendo in the first beats of ‘Club Tropicano' - a (workers) paradise first heralded in the 1970s hit Car Wash. The format draws upon the tradition of industrially produced animations such as Disney’s Sorcerer’s Apprentice sequence in Fantasia, or early Felix the Cat cartoons, where inanimate objects are brought to life, ‘animated’ with convulsive, syncopated force; also ecstatic, communal visions allegorised as threatened woodland animal utopias (Bambi etc.). This imagery is mirrored in Marx’s depictions of vampires, monsters and talking commodities to make visible operations such as surplus value extraction, the domination of machines over workers and commodity fetishism.

AB - Dean contributed two animations, Capital 1 & Capital 2 to the film and installation exhibition WORK by Capital Drawing Club (Andrew Cooper, Dean Kenning, John Russell) at St Chad's Project Space, London (May 2025). About the exhibition The animations act out a ceaseless movement of bodies, machines and the market abstractions of labour-derived value (money and prices) as described in Marx’s Capital. Choreographed to a dance music soundtrack, WORK connects the rhythms of industrialised oppression (the repetitive beat of factory machinery) and the commercial standardization of music to an embodied force of revolution and transformation in D.I.S.C.O music, building to a crescendo in the first beats of ‘Club Tropicano' - a (workers) paradise first heralded in the 1970s hit Car Wash. The format draws upon the tradition of industrially produced animations such as Disney’s Sorcerer’s Apprentice sequence in Fantasia, or early Felix the Cat cartoons, where inanimate objects are brought to life, ‘animated’ with convulsive, syncopated force; also ecstatic, communal visions allegorised as threatened woodland animal utopias (Bambi etc.). This imagery is mirrored in Marx’s depictions of vampires, monsters and talking commodities to make visible operations such as surplus value extraction, the domination of machines over workers and commodity fetishism.

UR - https://www.deankenning.com/WORK.html

M3 - Exhibition

T2 - WORK

Y2 - 3 May 2025 through 31 May 2025

ER -

WORK

Abstract

Bibliographical note

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Work and work

Cite this