Creative Coding · 2021
An interactive work asking viewers to confront how personal worth is measured, entered and displayed by digital interfaces.
ownvalue began with the artist’s experience of different pay levels among restaurant workers performing similar duties. It asks who establishes those differences, whether time and effort are valued consistently, and why salary becomes such a dominant measure of socioeconomic worth.
Project framework
Process and approach
Participants answer a direct question: “How much do you think you are valued at in your workplace?” Entering an hourly value forces consideration of age, education, experience and social expectations. The work does not promise a correct number; it makes the standards behind that number visible.
Responses ranged from HK$55 per hour to more than HK$100. One participant connected HK$60 per hour with being a fresh graduate. These answers reveal that people carry internal standards for valuing themselves, even when the origin of those standards is difficult to explain.
Moving image
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