Office Aesthetics is an artistic research project initiated by Paola Jalili in 2018. It investigates the intersections of labor and gender in the contemporary workplace, analyzing visual and textual representations of offices in the fields of architecture, design, pop culture, media, and theory. By observing, archiving, and utilizing these representations as sources for artistic work, Office Aesthetics aims to reflect on how we conceive work, how we value it, and how we perform it. The project is driven by (ironic) humor and (genuine) aesthetic pleasure. 

Office Aesthetics is also a broader category under which different parts of my artistic practice convey. An ongoing project, it has taken place and keeps merging in the following ways: 

  • A visual online archive 
  • A group exhibition 
  • An MA thesis 
  • Publications 
  • Video-performances    

In this website you can find documentation of these works plus other visual references, inspirations, and art works I have collected and created since the project started. This archive keeps growing and takes you to other places too. It's best to see on a desktop :)

Office Aesthetics: Labor and Gender in the Contemporary Workplace

MA thesis - Visual Cultures, Curating and Contemporary Art, Aalto University

More info here

Women at Hotel Lobbies is a lecture performance that addresses gendering and racializing processes within the global hospitality industry. Commissioned by Art Weekend Belgrade and curator An Paenhuysen, the piece was created in response to the lobby of Hotel Beograd, an abandoned hotel in the Serbian capital. 

Stills from the video --->

Video documentation here

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