How May I Serve You? Book Launch | Courthouse Projects

TUES 18 APRIL 2023

Free, booking required 
Tuesday 18th April 2023, from 6:00 pm
Courthouse Projects | County Courts, Cleaver Street, Kennington, London SE11 4DZ

How May I Serve You? – Book Launch

Join us at Lambeth County Court on Tuesday 18th of April for Oliva’s book launch followed by a talk and open discussion about participatory art practices, techno-colonialist structures and outsourcing systems.

Our two special guest speakers are Malik Ayaz and Saadia Abbasi, the two call centre agents who collaborated with Jose Garcia Oliva to create this thought-provoking book titled How May I Serve You? The book is a collection of chat transcripts between Saadia, Malik and an online audience, which were collected from three online participatory performances organised by Oliva over a period of four years. The discussion will be hosted by Sold Out Publishing.

How May I Serve You? provides a unique insight into the experiences of call centre agents. Through the recorded conversations, the book sheds light on the realities of outsourcing employment and the colonialistic structures that it perpetuates. The book also includes a selection of images showcasing the performances, website, previous exhibitions of the project, and a collection of Pakistani call centre images captured by Malik Ayaz.

In one of the recorded conversations in the book, Saadia says, “I’m not afraid to be replaced by automation; we are cheaper than AI”. This perspective from Saadia and Malik takes the discussion in a new direction, as concerns over the impact of AI software such as Chat GPT and DALL-E on various industries continue to grow.

Doors open at 6pm, talks start at 6:45pm. Free booking via Eventbrite.  Event supported by Axis Web and Plaintiff Press.

Plaintiff Press
A team of internationally exhibiting and practicing artists who saw the need to establish a new kind of print house. When considering the type of studio we wanted to be, we built our ethos on one of accessibility, rather than open access. We hand pick projects that excite us, lending our technical expertise and material sensibility that is built on years of combined practices, editioning and exhibiting experience.
www.plaintiff.press
@plaintiff.press

Sold Out Publishing
At Sold Out we ask what is left out from the curricula in academic and practical spaces within Graphic Design. The question is what is excluded and why, who is producing knowledge and who is distributing it? In an attempt to connect these knowledge gaps and fill the material and structural inequalities we hope to create reference points through published materials within Graphic Design.
www.sold-out.net
@soldout_publishing

Axis Web
Our mission is to support artists, by responding to their needs in an ever-changing world.
www.axisweb.org
@axisweb

Book by @olivajosec
Designed and edited by @olivajosec
Published by @soldoout_publishing @weareplan_b
Printed by @plaintiff.press
Supported by @axisweb @plaintiff.press and @ascstudios
Images provided by @olivajosec