The Evolution of Domestic Labor and the Future of Feeding

• Two simultaneous exhibitions in Madrid explore the historical shift in domestic labor and the modern reality of gig economy delivery work.
• Both exhibitions highlight the social and architectural implications of who performs the work of feeding society.

The Engineering of Domesticity

• Pioneers like Catharine Beecher, Christine Frederick, and Lillian Gilbreth aimed to professionalize kitchen work by applying industrial scientific management.
• They introduced innovations like the "work triangle," ergonomic design, and motion analysis (therbligs) to increase efficiency.
• While these efforts dignified the worker, they reinforced the assumption that the kitchen remained the domain of women, leaving the gendered nature of domestic work unchallenged.

The Opacity of Algorithmic Labor

• The Uneasy riders exhibition documents the lives of delivery workers through photo-elicitation to expose the invisible infrastructure of platforms.
• Modern delivery platforms manage workers through metrics that reward or penalize based on an opaque algorithm, creating a new form of digital, precarious labor.
• Data shows that 90% of these delivery workers are men and immigrants, signaling a shift where tasks are outsourced rather than redistributed.

Reimagining Collective Care

• Corporate narratives, such as those suggesting the disappearance of home kitchens by 2050, prioritize consumption efficiency over labor conditions.
• Scholars like Helen Hester argue against "domestic realism," proposing that society must move away from viewing food preparation as an individual private responsibility.
• Future solutions require collective forms of infrastructure, shifting the focus from individual saving of time to shared, socialized ways of sustaining life.