As part of teh festival ‘A Matter of (In)digestions‘, Alexandro Laudo took over our Instagram account to present her Treaty on Coffee and Sleep. Instagram 24/7. For seven days, every day around 7 am, she shared visual materials of her ongoing research in which she examines the way late capitalism and wireless technologies have blurred the line between productivity and leisure time. In this context, sleep ceases to be perceived as a natural and vital function and is regulated in favor of productivity and time optimization. In this research, Laudo specifically focuses on coffee, whose consumption unravels a colonial genealogy marked by its multiple reverberations within the so-called contemporary global economy.

 

Alexandra Laudo is an independent curator based in Barcelona. She recently curated the exhibition series The possibility of an island at Espai 13, Fundació Miró, A certain darkness at CaixaForum, and co-curated the program Compositions for the Barcelona Gallery Weekend. In 2015-2016 she was one of the participants in the curatorial research program CuratorLab (Stockholm), where she developed An intellectual history of the clock, a performative curatorial project exploring topics such as the measures of time, the history of clocks, the introduction of clock time or time standardization movement. Laudo has received different curatorial awards and research grants, such as the Terrassa Comissariat Award, the BCN Producció Comissariat award, or the grant for Training and Improvement in the elds of art, philosophy and new creativity. She writes regularly about art and contemporary culture for B-guided and for the critical platform A-Desk, and has published many texts in exhibition catalogues and art books. Among other subjects, she is interested in exploring narration and textuality in visual arts, as well as performativity and oral expression as curatorial tools.

MONDAY 30/11/2020

In our Instagram Story, short storytelling on facts and anecdotes related to the introduction of coffee in The Netherlands.  

 


TUESDAY 01/11/2020

In our Instagram story, a combined selection of pharmaceutic products: some with caffeine, to sustain activity and wakefulness, others with different calming substances, to favor sleep. Stay awake / Simply sleep.


WEDNESDAY 02/12/20

With 12 mg of caffeine, an athlete would be expelled from the Olympic Games for doping. On today’s story, some of the prohibitions and bans related to coffee in time.
Archive footage by #AntoniVarès, Noticiari del GEIEC. Source: CRDI

 


THURSDAY 03/12/2020

Husband Pleasing Coffee / On bended knees the black slaves served coffee. In our Instagram Story, a selection of antique, modern and contemporary coffee advertisements that reflect sexism, racism, and the colonial legacies in the history of coffee.


FRIDAY 04/12/2020

In our Story today, images relating caffeine with production, consumption, electrical light, and a 24/7 regime.


SATURDAY 05/12/2020

In our Instagram story today, some images and references on cultural and political revolt and coffee shops.


SUNDAY 06/12/2020

In our last Instagram Story of this online takeover, a selection of recent contemporary artworks exploring themes related to insomnia, caffeine, sleep, wakefulness, eye fatigue, endurance, and hyper productivity.