On January 30, 2024, the “Figure It Out” project held its third bonfire-style storytelling gathering at Panke Gallery in Berlin. This event, titled Ghost Workers: Practicing Resilience in Remote Work Systems and on Platforms, brought together artists, activists, and digital laborers from across Berlin and beyond. Set against the backdrop of the Vorspiel / transmediale & CTM festival, the evening focused on the often-invisible lives of workers from Eastern Europe and the Global South navigating the gig economy and digital platforms.
Curated by the Berlin-based collective !Mediengruppe Bitnik, in collaboration with Mara Ferreri, Valeria Graziano, and Tomislav Medak, the event transformed Panke Gallery into a space for candid conversation and collective storytelling.
The gathering began with presentations from Aleksandra Lakić and Max Haiven, who shared their research on the realities of gig work. Lakić described how algorithmic control affects platform workers in South Eastern Europe, particularly regarding the pressures of constant surveillance and the precariousness of digital labor. Haiven took a speculative approach, imagining sci-fi futures beyond Amazon in collaboration with workers who are embedded in the very systems they seek to reimagine. Both talks laid the groundwork for the bonfire session, when participants, settled in a circle, began sharing stories of resistance and survival in the global gig economy. The evening concluded with a collective discussion and a communal meal.