Institute of Art Design + Technology
Dún Laoghaire

Karolina Adamczak 

BA [Hons] Art

Karolina Adamczak is a Dublin-based artist with a background in dance, who works primarily in the field of moving image and performance art. Her work depicts the crudeness of human connection in a modern alienated society. Karolina sees her practice as a form of activism and a way to challenge and expose social issues and taboos. Karolina has participated in multiple live art exhibitions, including Rebirth, hosted by the Evil Collective in Limerick in 2019, FOMO, organised by Livestock at the Harold’s Cross Studios in 2019 and Portals, an online live art exhibition hosted by Livestock in 2020.

I'm Selling Myself

I’m Selling Myself consists of a series of short films exposing the self-estranging process of emotional labour and the marketisation of feelings and emotions. The work also critiques the ethics of business structures and exposes the dangers of employee rating and customer service policies such as ‘never say no’ and ‘service with a smile’.

Employees must perform the role of someone at peace with the world while often being paid below the living wage. Many artists and creatives are forced to work within the service industry to support their careers. My work highlights the employee’s individuality and the dreams put on hold or lost, within the customer service industry.

This work is based upon direct experience of the customer service industry and I have used real documents, files, employee training and assessment sheets as source material.