Visual archaeology of rider subjectivity

Madrid: Re-visiones, n. 12
2022 

Abstract

This paper proposes a visual archeology of the rider —app-based delivery workers— subjectivity produced by platform capitalism and silicolonization. A descriptive analysis of this subjectivity is carried out throughout five pairs of dialectical images —set in dialogue—, dividing the article into five parts: it begins with the description of the context that makes rider subjectivity possible; next, some of the most notable features of their problems are exposed to finish by proposing images and statements that refer to other future scenarios from which to frame contemporary rider subjectivity.

Keywords

delivery platform worker (rider), production of subjectivity, platform capitalism, silicolonization, smartphone, labor.

Link to the paper


Deprisa, deprisa. Oil on canvas, 162 x 130 cm., 2016, José Díaz. 
Viral image of a female rider on the Moscow metro while taking care of her two children (2020).




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