Life/Time: Rhythmanalysis of the Working Day was a performance/research project 2017-19 funded by University of Bristol Brigstow Institute: Seedcorn Commissions. I collaborated with Dr Frederick Harry Pitts, a Marxist scholar from the Dept. of Management, and sound artist Yas Clarke.

The project was exploring the neglected embodiment of sedentary work, the proliferation of devices for self-management and productivity, and the increased surveillance of the body by ourselves and our employers in work environments.

We experimented with measuring our body rhythms during a working week with commercially available devices such as smart watches, glucose monitors and HRV chest straps, then used the data to create sound which we performed live with a visual representation of the data. We slowed down and sped up time as we moved through the week to either zoom in on details or look at larger patterns.

The project resulted in several papers and ongoing research, including ‘Sonifying the quantifed self: Rhythmanalysis and performance research in and against the reduction of life-time to labour-time’ in Capital & Class, and a forthcoming book chapter.