Last (karōshi), 2021

Last (karōshi) is located in the inner courtyard of a vacant office complex, that will be converted into upmarket flats and whose former use is clearly recognisable from its stereotypical appearance.
The Japanese term “karōshi” describes death by overwork, for which there is no specific term in German. It describes the moment when work completely takes over private life. The negative casts consist of used vacuum rescue mattresses from which the moulded bodies have been removed after deflation. These are then connected to a vacuum pump via a hose system. Although the installation is fixed in its mould, it is transient as soon as the system is switched off. Because of the mattresses material, all bodies are standardised, only their last posture remains like a negative shell. My intervention contextualises the absence of these bodies with the empty architecture, which was conceived as a place of work and whose readable office- and thus work hierarchy gives way to a collection of refuges. 

location:
51°14‘31.9“N 6°48‘35.8“E

material:
vacuum-rescue-mattress, PVC textile hose, back pressure valve, gate valve, vacuumpump, hose clip

supported by:
Empty Spaces e.V., research material by Schnitzler Rettungsprodukte

photos:
Kai Werner Schmidt

Last (karōshi) is located in the inner courtyard of a vacant office complex, that will be converted into upmarket flats and whose former use is clearly recognisable from its stereotypical appearance.
The Japanese term “karōshi” describes death by overwork, for which there is no specific term in German. It describes the moment when work completely takes over private life. The negative casts consist of used vacuum rescue mattresses from which the moulded bodies have been removed after deflation. These are then connected to a vacuum pump via a hose system. Although the installation is fixed in its mould, it is transient as soon as the system is switched off. Because of the mattresses material, all bodies are standardised, only their last posture remains like a negative shell. My intervention contextualises the absence of these bodies with the empty architecture, which was conceived as a place of work and whose readable office- and thus work hierarchy gives way to a collection of refuges.