Bullshit Work / 寻找你的狗屁工作

Find something you consider a waste of time. Give it your time and attention, then decide what it means to you.

A creative assignment about time, emotion, and how we judge value.

“What is the point?” We often ask this when deciding whether something is worth doing. How long it takes, how efficient it is, and what it produces can quickly become our measures of value.

Talking with someone, practicing a movement over and over, or spending hours preparing for a brief gathering can take considerable time. Relationships grow through time spent together; feelings become clearer when we linger. The value of some moments becomes apparent through experiencing them.

This assignment invites you to reconsider the time we call “wasted.” What happens within it? Who finds pleasure, company, or comfort there? What would you willingly continue to spend time on?

Look through your daily life, studies, or creative practice for something you have done repeatedly that feels time-consuming and hard to justify. Narrow it down to an action you can experience from beginning to end.

You might start by organizing objects that keep getting moved around, attending a regular gathering, or revising a detail few people notice. You may also choose a small activity that matters only to you.

Before you begin, write down your judgment:

• What am I going to do?
• Why do I consider it a waste of time?
• Does this judgment come from my experience or someone else’s opinion?
• How long do I expect it to take, and what do I expect from it?

Keep this record and return to it at the end of the assignment.

Find out why this activity happens. Who initiated it? Who takes part? Who wants it to continue? Has it become a habit, an agreement, or a ritual?

If others are involved, listen to their experiences. Ask a specific question: “Which moment in this activity matters most to you?” Record what they actually say and observe how they spend their time.

If it is something you do alone, recall the first time you did it and why you have returned to it since.

Set aside enough time to experience the activity in full. Put your other plans aside before beginning, then pay attention to your actions, attention, and feelings as you go.

Record specific moments: when you wanted to finish quickly, when you became absorbed, and whether a detail made you want to stay longer. You can use writing, photographs, sound, or drawing.

Afterward, note how much time you actually spent. Then ask: “If I had not done this today, what would the other participants and I have missed?” Ground your answer in an action, a sentence, a feeling, or a relationship.

Choose a discovery from the process and develop it into a work. Through the way you present it, let viewers experience the rhythm, weight, or emotion of that time.

Your work may be a photographic series, a video, a sound piece, a booklet, an installation, or an action that invites others to participate. Choose a medium suited to what you discovered.

Consider how long viewers need to stay. What will they see, hear, or do? How might waiting, repetition, pauses, or doing something together become part of the work?

Reread your initial notes and write down what you think now:

• Which specific experience changed my judgment? Which thoughts remain?
• What did this time mean to me and to the other participants?
• Did I willingly spend the time, or did I feel obliged to finish? How did that affect the experience?
• Given the choice again, would I do it? How would I arrange that time?

• Your initial judgment: the activity you chose and the thoughts you recorded before starting.
• Process records: the time spent, observations, participants’ words, and key moments.
• The finished work: files or documentation, with brief instructions for viewing, listening, or participating.
• Reflection: explain how you now see the activity through specific experiences, and how the work expresses what you found.

Discussion will focus on the specificity of your observations, how your judgments took shape, and how the form of your work communicates the experience. Bring the moments that made you hesitate, change your mind, or keep wondering.

If this assignment has become your “bullshit work” too, include that in your reflection.

David Graeber’s Bullshit Jobs: A Theory examines the meaning of paid employment and workers’ judgments about their own jobs. This assignment takes that inquiry into everyday activities, emotional relationships, and creative practice.