Workspace Submission is a project devoted to the visual exploration of oppression and exploitation in the highly technocratic working reality of so-called white collars – qualified office / knowledge workers who, according to the contemporary Italian philosopher Maurizio Lazzarato, have become the leading labour force of late capitalism. 

Drawing on Lazzarato's concept, the author of the series shows in an allegorical way the position of these contemporary „techno-proletarians” in relation to the capitalist hegemon. Ever more liberalised labour market conditions, growing replaceability by technology, the lack of alternative sources of income in the economy and the advancing commercialisation of further spheres of life force the representatives of a declining middle class into full submission and complete subordination to the demands placed on them in the workplace, reducing them to the role of passive „human resources” stripped of agency. 

By showing the models in expressionless, apathetic poses and placing them in cold, sterile spaces inspired by the aesthetics of old science fiction cinema, the author seeks to depict the effect of these processes on the bodies and mental state of his subjects. He thereby suggests that the only way to survive in a reality constructed this way is to activate the mechanisms of denial and emotional inertia. 

Artistic collaboration: 

set design: Karolina Lefek 
costumes: Yehor Izhko 
models: Joanna Rowicka, Adam Bilewicz, Katarzyna Russ, Daniel Kaczmarczyk, Aleksandra Kądziołka, Jan Mutor, Aurora Okulska 

Dominik Keil (b. 1991) - is a graduate of the Warsaw Academy of Photography and the Andrzej Wajda Film School in Warsaw. Before that he worked for several years in large financial corporations in Poland and abroad, experiences that formed the basis for the series Workspace Submission. In his artistic practice he specialises in staged and documentary photography. He draws inspiration for his work mainly from the history of the visual arts, cinematography and contemporary developments in the social sciences. Apart from photography, he also makes short fiction films and music videos.