Depreciating Assets

Depreciating Assets is a new artists book by Jessica Vaughn that examines labor, diversity politics, and the material environment of the American workplace. It explores how affirmative action and other office equity measures are intersected by corporate infrastructure and the physical layout of office space, and how minimalist design gestures of the modern office cannot exist outside the conditions of race, class, and labor. The book replicates the style, materials, and colors outlined by the US Government Publishing Office and uses varied paper stocks in accordance with Paper Standard specifications. It concludes with an afterword by the author contextualizing the projects themes within the contemporary reality of global pandemic, economic precarity, and protests against racist state violence.

Format: Paperback / softback
Publication date: 31 March 2021
Publisher: Printed Matter, Incorporated

Jessica Vaughn's new artists book, Depreciating Assets, delves into the intersection of labor, diversity, and the material environment of the American workplace. Through a fresh perspective on her multidisciplinary practice, Vaughn examines how affirmative action and other office equity measures are influenced by corporate infrastructure, particularly the physical layout of office space. The project comprises four interconnected sections and related appendices, where Vaughn combines her photographs, critical writings, xeroxed images, diversity training video stills, and manipulated open-source documents from the US Government. By exploring the symptoms of late 20th and 21st century work culture shaped by open office plans and modular architectures, which promise malleability, compliance, and universality, the project questions the trade-offs between efficiency and visibility for Black and workers of color. Vaughn highlights how minimalist design gestures in the modern office, as envisioned by Rem Koolhaas's formative essay "Typical Plan" and Herman Miller's Ethospace brochures, are inherently tied to race, class, and labor. Additionally, the project includes an interview between Vaughn and curator Magdalyn Asimakis, where they discuss the structural failings of arts and cultural institutions to practice equitable inclusion of artists of color and develop a language and praxis that goes beyond compliance, optics, and market concerns. Vaughn draws connections between the operations of these institutions and the corporate environment, and explores how she manipulates their commonalities through the material of her work. Depreciating Assets aims to shed light on the complex dynamics between labor, diversity, and the material environment in the American workplace, challenging the assumptions and practices that perpetuate inequality and exclusion.

Weight: 522g
Dimension: 216 x 279 x 12 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780894390999