Liam Gillick

Weapons GradePig Work

Aboveboard. I really am honest and open now.More and more. Since being out here. Its theplace. Its bigger and softer. Its a better way towork. Ive employed a bunch of people. Backwhere I came from the old cynics said, I dontthink youre being totally aboveboard with us.Aces in their places! Thats my only response.When I shout that out these days everyone runsto their station and leverages their corecompetencies. Thats what I want to achieve. So Ican spend some time in my car moving around,sliding across town, aware that things are gettingdone. Thats the way Ive been doing it since Imoved out here. Those old-school pseudo-academics are totally acluistic. Completelyclueless. Across the piece we have a good set uphere. The constant sun is affecting the entireproject. Were aiming for efficiencyimprovements across the piece, get it? Action.Thats what it takes to really do something thesedays. Undertaking given tasks; putting thingsinto practice. Dont bother me while Imactioning my deliverables. Thats what I told theguys the other day. Whoops and hollers allaround. Its full on here. Full action. Action itemsleft right and center. Screw it. I have short-termgoals that require a defined measure of work tocomplete. And thats what I am going to deliver.Basically a dynamic, proactive version of my veryown to do list, 24/7. Actionable. Actionable.Actionable. Thats the way it has to be from nowon. So what if I clean my dashboard with atoothbrush? Action has to be taken at all times.Look, lets address things realistically for achange. I address things these days. I insist on itfrom the guys. No more doing, tackling, orcompleting. I told them how these words nicelyavoid making a commitment to which I might beheld accountable. Semi-autonomy is the name ofthe game from here on in. I will address all ofyour concerns in the upcoming weeks. Screwyou and screw all your doing and making. Its acomplete adhocracy as far as work isconcerned from now on. A minimally structuredstudio where teams are formed as needed toaddress specific problems. You know what?Admin is written on my T-shirt. Its the word ofthe week. I told the girl who works in the coffeeplace. Political correctness already beat brevitywhen Secretary became AdministrativeAssistant. But brevity is back. Get on the hornwith my Admin. She stared at me. But in a realway. Look, weve all got to start embracing thetrivial tasks we used to be far too qualified tosuffer through. Adoption processes have to beenacted. People have to step along the path fromcautious cynic to submissive consumer of mystuff. Aggressive mediocrity is the best way toachieve this. I had to drive back to the coffeeplace because I hadnt made my point clearly

e-flux journa

l #65 SUPERCOMMUNITY mayau

gust 2015 Liam Gillick

Weapo

ns Grade Pig Work

01/04

06.19.15 / 07:05:52 EDT

Lucas Cranach's illustration of grappling techniques from the military treatise The Art of Wrestling: Eighty-Five Devices (1539)

02/04

06.19.15 / 07:05:52 EDT

enough. I told her. I am making a conscious effortto ensure that the bare minimum, and nothingmore, is achieved. Get it? Now she will beimpressed. In total agreeance with me. Thatsall I ask for in the studio. A degree ofagreeance. Its a much fancier way of sayingagreement, dont you think? Are we inagreeance? More professional but with a sunnysplit that catches the mood out here. I wanteveryone to just air it out. To discuss issuesopenly. Lets get the team together and air it outthis aft. Thats this morningsemail to the team.I will be here all day. After a little nap it will belunch Al Desko. The other day, once I hadshuffled the wagon into its spot, I was amazed atthe commitment around me. I slept in so Imhaving breakfast Al Desko. Yep, thats the spirit.The guys love me. They even made me a bumpersticker. ALAP. As Late As Possible. Get it? Theylove me. But I had to get serious with them. Wehad a little get-together at the Peruvian placeand I made a little speech. I explained that ALAPis not funny its a philosophy now and we arereally moving along on it. Look. We are going tomeet our deadlines at the last possible momentin order to avoid receiving additional pressure. Ihave told everyone here to just say tothemselves, I finished it last week, but Im goingto submit it ALAP. Alignment. Consensus. Thatshow we get things done. Can we align on lunchorders? Can we align on production? Can wealign for just a second? All-hands meeting.Thats the new mandatory meeting for everyonehere. Every morning, every evening. Weve gotthings to do. I called from the car this morning.Bob? We need an all-hands every morning andevery evening. Bobs the only person I broughtwith me out here. A real alpha geek. He syncs allthe devices and keeps tabs on the alpha pups. Irealized that to keep up with the competition Iwould need six alpha pups in here for focusgroups every month. They are all completelyamped. They are so amped up about the newwork. At first we just blew around someanacronyms. No one remembers what the lettersstand for any more. Really useful. RADAR, ASCII,and SNAFU. Ive been tweeting them. And thealpha pups are all on top of the best anecgloats.All those stories that make us look good and onthe ball all the time. The main thing we are tryingto achieve as a team here is a sense that we areanimal spirits. Back where I come from some saywe are victims of an irrational optimism that isdriving us to risk our credibility on half-bakedideas. But I have a team that has been anointed.No one here can do anything wrong in my eyes.Its not a time to anonymize anyone around here.That would just lead to anticipointment.Everything here lives up to the hype. I am allappetite I told that to the girl at the coffee

place. My level of interest is off the charts. I ambuzzed. I walked in the other day and shouted,Dont spend another minute on this shit until weget a sample of collector appetite. Apple polisheverything, thats my new motto. Suck up andflatter some egos for a change. Back hometheyre all armchair generals. I can take that.They might speak critically, but they have noexperience in the field. They always talkaround. They need to dialogue around mychoice of work these days. Look, fire your arrows,kiddos. But if you dont have any more arrows tofire, I think were finished here. Just give me anask if you have anything to say to me. Stopmaking so many requests. That wont cut it. Iwant to know where you all stand on the latestcollector ask. Everything is an assignmentcapsule out here since I got the team reallypumped. Everyone has a clearly defined jobdescription. I told them after a long lunch: Stoparguing about objectives and start handing outassignment capsules. That got them focused.Goddammit. The pressure is on. I am sufferingfrom an extreme case of assmosis. Dont theyrealize how much sucking up I have to do? At thisjuncture my availability is going to be severelylimited if people dont start appreciating thedegree of focus out here. Babylonian orgy? OK.You got it. Its all a fucking bag of snakes backwhere I come from. Out here I can get work done.You can call it wallpapering fog, but thats yourloss. Call it weapons grade. Now youre talking.Come out to the sun, stop testiculating aboutyour pig work and start working the problem.

e-flux journa

l #65 SUPERCOMMUNITY mayau

gust 2015 Liam Gillick

Weapo

ns Grade Pig Work

03/04

06.19.15 / 07:05:52 EDT

Liam Gillick is a British artist who studied fine art atGoldsmiths College, London, graduating in 1987.Hiswork deploys multiple forms to expose the newideological control systems that emerged at thebeginning of the 1990s.

e-flux journa

l #65 SUPERCOMMUNITY mayau

gust 2015 Liam Gillick

Weapo

ns Grade Pig Work

04/04

06.19.15 / 07:05:52 EDT