Work hard…

And then what? Love, passion, ambition, success, failure, burnout, or play hard? I learned to define myself through work long before I ever got my first job. Day after day, I work alongside people who introduce themselves by their name and profession. Every week I have conversations that inevitably include the question ‘How’s work?’. Just as often, I hear myself asking ‘So, what are you working on these days?’.

In November, I worked for 227 hours. In March for 205. My hourly pay was €8.20. In January, I took 6 days off. In March 3 days. In April 1 day. Wage labour accounted for 66% of my income.

Kärt Koppel is a performance artist and self-proclaimed geek who explores the overlap between popular and high culture through text, social media and performance. She writes the monthly column About Dance Without Dance for Tantsu Kuukiri and is one-third of the non-musical girl group Unholy Trinity. Her recent projects include the Springback Academy dance criticism mentorship programme (2025), a performative installation Tactical Spooning (2025) in Contemporary Art Museum of Estonia (EKKM), and the hyper-pop performance Rat’s Rumba (2024) in Kanuti Gildi SAAL. Kärt’s artistic ideas, concepts and experiments simmer in the sauce of office aesthetics.