Kristina Cranfeld

The Future of Mechanical Turk
Medium: short film and fictional map
Length: 4 min approx
Year: 2012

We live in uncertain times where our lives are filled with constant job dissatisfaction, high staff turnover, rising unemployment and low pensions. The future of 'Mechanical Turk' has arrived. It is a future where every human action is a short, artificial, ad hoc task bought for a price by powerful institutions. A future where our every action is a product, where genuine behavior is superficial, and our landscapes are an emotional artifice.

Plot

The Future of Mechanical Turk is a film about a low paid secretary who is also employed by a ‘Mechanical Turk’ system to perform random micro tasks throughout her day to make ends meet. The film is influenced by a concept originating from Amazon’s ‘Mechanical Turk’. The scenario represents its future implications, where every fragment of our lives can be commodified by large corporate bodies. What if your every action would need to be sold to make a living? How would you cope?

Film still, The Future of Mechanical Turk

Film still, The Future of Mechanical Turk

Film still, The Future of Mechanical Turk



Cast / Jennifer Evans / Adam Joseph Bacon / Paul Chiedozie / Natalia Oginskaya / Julika Welge / Map Illustration / Jordon Cheung