CONTRACTED HOURS
Comissioned by the Festival of Dangerous Ideas as part of HEAP at Carriageworks 2026
Contracted Hours attempts to introduce an ethical labour practice between a girl and her heavily personified 3D Printer. In an era of invisible digital labour, this work tries for the opposite: an acknowledgement of the work of the machine, the grinding of gears and the whirling of a internal fans. As podcast CEO's use Claude to write LinkedIn posts and governments bribe oligarchs to build data centres on stolen land, a 3D printer will sit in a studio above a sandwich shop on Oxford Street, printing its contract of engagement for 7.5 hours a day, 5 days a week, until the engagement period is complete.
Sophie Penkethman-Young
Contracted Hours, 2026
Twenty-five tiles created by a 3D printer, with PETG translucent, bright white LEDs,
polymer lithium-Ion batteries.
Collaborators: Bambu Lab X1 Carbon, firmware 01.11.02.00 and Jarrod Lambert