Aug 3, 2026 4 min read

No. 54: Paper Summer

Soft Labor (the publication, not the consultancy) will take a break during the month of August for some summer R & R. Meanwhile, we're enjoying five more weeks of reading from the depths of pure personal pleasure and curiosity. We hope you're doing the same.…

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Jul 20, 2026 5 min read

No. 53: Cognitive Futures

We got our hands on Metahaven's new book, The Hard Question of Art: Cognitive Futures—thanks again to Verso—and are currently reading its series of essays with titles such as "Cause and Affect," "Mirror Neurons," and "Non-Narratable Worlds."…

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Jul 6, 2026 5 min read

No. 52: How to See Like a Machine

The Brooklyn Rail published our book review of artist Trevor Paglen's newly-released How to See Like a Machine: Images in the Age of AI in its Summer 2026 print and online edition.…

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Jun 30, 2026 5 min read

No. 51: New in Outland: Runaway Models

Earlier today we published "Runway Models," the last of our six-part column for Outland, the namesake publication of an organization devoted to supporting initiatives in publishing and education that focus on art and technology.…

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Jun 22, 2026 1 min read

One Year of Soft Labor

Happy Birthday, Soft Labor. 🎈…

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Jun 15, 2026 4 min read

No. 50: The Soft Labor Questionnaire: Tony Wang

Today's respondent is Tony Wang. Tony is the founder of the Office of Applied Strategy, a new type of strategy practice that operates as a consulting firm, think tank, and venture fund.…

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Jun 8, 2026 5 min read

No. 49: Road Rage

Dear Soft Labor, I'm a female curator in my late 50s, hold a PhD, and have worked in major art museums for years. You know the drill: A curatorial assistant many years my junior launched an HR complaint about my somewhat formal and direct, yet entirely professional management style ...…

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May 19, 2026 5 min read

No. 48: New in Outland: Haute Slop (why the backlash to generative AI feels especially ferocious in the fields of art and fashion)

In our fifth piece, "Haute Slop," we were thrilled to write about the sense of fear that pervades the relationship between generative AI, art, and fashion. Why, we ask, is the backlash especially bad in those respective fields?…

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May 4, 2026 8 min read

No. 47: The Soft Labor Questionnaire: Brian Droitcour

Today's respondent is Brian Droitcour. For the last twenty years Brian has been working in and around the art world as a critic, curator, editor, and educator.…

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Apr 20, 2026 5 min read

No. 46: The Soft Labor Questionnaire: Rachel Meade Smith

Today's respondent is Rachel Meade Smith. Rachel is a writer, editor, researcher, and civic design worker. Since 2016, she has run Words of Mouth, a free newsletter connecting jobseekers to “humane” work in the creative fields, reaching tens of thousands of readers across the globe.…

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Apr 6, 2026 5 min read

No. 45: New in Outland: From Blogs to Bots (how museums have used digital media to take—or lose—control of the narrative)

In our third column, "From Blogs to Bots," we trace 2010s digital media history to consider the ways museums gained—and perhaps have lost—control over their own institutional narratives.…

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Mar 23, 2026 3 min read

No. 44: The Soft Labor Questionnaire: Raymond Biesinger

Today's respondent is Raymond Biesinger. He is a Montréal-based illustrator, author, and artist whose work has been published on almost all the continents for the last 20 years.…

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Mar 9, 2026 4 min read

No. 43: Politically Perplexed

Dear Soft Labor, I work as an arts administrator in a university art gallery. ... It’s an understatement to say that we’re all stricken by the ongoing political disaster both at home and abroad.…

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Feb 24, 2026 5 min read

No. 42: New in Outland: Escape Hatch (why museums must embrace contradiction in a time of crisis)

Our latest piece just published in Outland, the publication produced by Outland, a new, nonprofit organization dedicated to publishing and education in the field of art and technology.…

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Feb 23, 2026 3 min read

No. 41: The Soft Labor Questionnaire: Andy Pressman

Today's respondent is Andy Pressman. Andy is currently a designer in the Brand Studio at Figma. Prior to joining Figma, Andy was founding principal of Rumors, a design and technology studio; and the first design director of Verso Books, the renowned radical publisher.…

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