Productive Bodies: Capitalism, Music, and the Regulation of Work

About the event

10th Festival of Abstract Thought 🗓️ October 22-26, 2025 Jazdów Estate, Warsaw FROM THE BELLY. Body, corporeality, materiality. Program here: https://www.fma.waw.pl/ Meeting - no registration required Productive Bodies: Capitalism, Music, and the Regulation of Work 🗓️ Friday, 24.10.2026, 8:00 PM-9:30 PM Rotational House of Culture Capitalism, driven by the complementary principles of accumulation and competition, seeks to make human bodies productive. To this end, it employs various apparatuses and techniques to make bodies knowable and shapeable, so that they work continuously and efficiently, becoming functionally integrated with the production system. Historically, these efforts have ranged from normative control over workers' bodies in Taylorism and Fordism, through expertise in the dress and image of managers, to self-regulation of embodied expression of emotions and mental states as part of adaptation to organizational culture. One strategy that illustrates these transformations is the use of sound and music in the work environment. From playing specially prepared recordings in factories, singing corporate anthems and dancing in lip-dubs, to mobile apps supporting focus or creativity – the organization of the audiosphere around the work process is a side, yet interesting thread in the history of capitalist efforts to extract the productive powers of the body and harness it into value creation processes. Artur Szarecki – PhD in cultural studies, assistant professor at the Institute of Cultural Sciences at Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń. He conducts research on popular culture (especially music), addressing issues related to embodiment, power, and capitalism. Author of the monograph Somatic Capitalism: Body and Power in Corporate Culture (2017) and several dozen scientific articles published in national and international journals. EVENT ACCESSIBILITY - Meetings are held at the Rotational House of Culture, which is accessible for people with physical disabilities. - We organize translation of meetings and lectures into Polish Sign Language (PJM). If you need PJM translation, please submit your request here by 19.10. Link: https://forms.gle/EuJbZdYSDV7UzwVt7 The project is co-financed by the City of Warsaw Funded by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage from the Culture Promotion Fund – a state special-purpose fund. Organizing body: Otwarte Dziki Bez Association Our socials: - Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fma.waw - Instagram: @festiwalmysliabstrakcyjnej