Daylight Management is the first public moment in the UK of the Night Shifts project, a sprawling network of artists, researchers, scientists, night-shift workers and union representatives initiated and led by artist Martin Kohout.

In this show, the documentary fiction film Slides (HD film, 22 minutes, 2016) explores the impact of night shift labour on both personal and infrastructural levels. This investigation unfolds by tracing the relationships of night shift workers through the lenses of related technologies that enable night time labour, alongside an exploration of the city as a warped space for 24-7 production.

The film will be presented in conjunction with a public programme of talks and performances by collaborators from the wider research network that has informed the creation of the Night Shifts project, with contributions from artists and scientists Christopher-James Harvey, Caroline Heron, Habib William Kherbek, Dan Meththananda and Georgina Voss.

Night Shifts is a project of work particularly concerned with the social impact of staying connected to friends and loved ones who exist at opposite ends of the day. Outcomes of the project to date include a film work, a printed publication, a roundtable discussion with Southern and Eastern Trade Union Congress (SERTUC), an interview series with night-shift workers and ongoing research development with leading voices in the fields of sleep and neuroscience.

The Night Shifts project has been developed through collaborations with a wide range of contributors across its multiple outputs including: Bora Akıncıtürk, Phanuel Antwi, Josie Berr, Jean Bridger, Anna Coates, Defensa, Warren Digance, Jamie Gull, Ayesha Hameed, Arjun Harris, Leela Harris, Caroline Heron, Yoshitaka Hikawa, Jan Horčík, Monika Janulevičiūtė, William Kherbek, Sophie Lapalu, Barney Lewer, Dafydd Lloyd, Kareem Lotfy, Steffen Martin, Sue Merrell, Dan Meththananda, Aslı Özdemir, Jeff Perkins, Jason Pine, SERTUC (Laurie Heselden, Megan Dobney and Hugh Robertson), Ruben Sewkumar, Vasi Shaikh, Sukh Sidhu, Sleep and Circadian Neuroscience Institute, Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Oxford (Russell Foster with Christopher-James Harvey, Kate Porcheret and Vladyslav Vyazovskiy), Sung Tieu, Bubbly Virdee and Georgina Voss.

Night Shifts is produced by AQNB in partnership with the Sleep & Circadian Neuroscience Institute at the University of Oxford, and is supported by Wellcome Trust. The exhibition has been made possible with support from Czech Centre London.

Auto Italia’s commissions are made possible by our Exhibition Circle and Member supporters.

Martin Kohout (b. 1984, Czechoslovakia) is an artist and publisher, living and working in Berlin. His work is concerned with how developing communication technologies shape our relationships with others, time, space and the horizons of biography. His recent solo and group exhibitions include Riga Photography Biennial, Riga (2018); Polansky Gallery, Prague (2017); MAMbo, Bologna (2015); Futura, Prague (2015), Arcadia Missa, London (2014); Guggenheim Museum, New York (2010). In 2011 Kohout founded TLTRPreß, a publishing house for artists and authors. Recent releases include Somewhere I’ve Never Been (2017) by Steph Kretowicz and The Great Outdoors (2017) by Monika Kalinauskaitė and Monika Janulevičiūtė. Kohout is the recipient of the Jindřich Chalupecký Award (2017).