How an Artist and Museum Conspired to Give a Delivery Worker What the Apps Won’t: PTO
ARTnews reports that artist and cyclist fields harrington began photographing customized delivery bikes across New York City in 2024 after witnessing a delivery worker crash in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, an incident that underscored how app-based work lacks a traditional “boss.” The resulting images—shot with a 35mm camera and often highlighting reflective tape and other modifications—are presented as a way to document worker culture without objectifying workers themselves. Harrington’s series is being shown at MoMA PS1 in the recurring survey “Greater New York,” on view through August 17. As part of a more reciprocal exchange between art and labor, harrington also pursued a project centered on giving delivery workers “rest,” including asking MoMA PS1 to rent a delivery worker’s bike and developing an essay about extraction, e-bike batteries, and exhaustion.
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This story was covered in A.I. Anxiety and the Gallery Goodbye Tour