Hiring workers for our Second Life Sweatshop!

Do you want to work on the cutting edge of telematic manufacturing?

Do you want to earn Lindens by repeatedly pressing a button?

Do you want a small plot of land outside an industrial factory to build a hovel of your very own?

Are you available for 2-3 hours a day, from January 17th to January 27th?

Then contact me immediately! jobs@doublehappinessjeans.com

For the past few weeks, my life has been all about Invisible Threads, the project I am working on with Stephanie Rothenberg. We were recently informed that we will be presenting at a festival in January, so we’re kicking our asses to get it out the door and done. In a few words, we have built a sweatshop in Second Life that manufactures jeans. These jeans are then sent to a large-format printer and printed on Tyvek. They are then assembled and can be worn by the customer. So at this festival, we will be selling the jeans to anyone who has the cash.

Here’s the full project description:

“Invisible Threads” explores the growing intersection between labor, emerging virtual economies, and real life commodities through the creation of a designer jeans sweatshop in the online, 3-dimensional virtual world of Second Life.

Replicating a real life manufacturing facility that includes hiring Second Life “workers”, the project leverages the simulation capabilities of Second Life’s virtual space as well as its social networking tools to provide an insider’s view into current modes of global production. Low-wage workers are hired by placing classifieds in Second Life system and offering only slightly more than the countless other, extremely popular skill-less labor opportunities. At the start of each workday, workers clock-in. The worker is then be assigned to a specific department and workstation and given a specialized task to perform, all from the comfort of their respective homes or cyber-cafes all over the world. Ten machines, each correlating to a specification of the custom jean order, will be operated by a SL worker in an assembly line manner. For example, machine #2 which simulates a laser cutter creates the pattern whereas machine #3, a dye vat, creates the “rinse” effect. But just as in a real life factory, workers are monitored by a department supervisor and held accountable for their speed and efficiency and any production errors. The erratic flow of supply and demand and extenuating circumstances such as equipment failures and irrational dispositions may result in docked pay, layoffs and overtime.

Real-world customers place their order with the factory overseer, who manages the factory workers from a terminal in the physical space. As real world customers watch their jeans move down the assembly line via a projection on the wall of the physical space, the real lives behind the avatar “workers” stationed at industrial machines begin to emerge. This interplay between reality and virtual embodiment not only sheds light on the current politics of outsourced labor but foreshadows what has already become the future of capitalist production. At the end of the production cycle, the finished jeans are sent to a large format printer in the physical space, where they are printed on Tyvek material, quickly assembled, and worn out by the buyer. Styles include boot cut, skinny leg, flare and the new “Boyfriend” trousers. Profits from these purchases will be used to maintain the factory (monthly land rental tiers, SL advertising) and pay for workers’ land.