Arkive Acquires Overtime (2020) by Josh Kline, an Ode to Challenging Modern Work Culture

Arkive, the world’s first distributed museum curated by the people, today announces its acquisition of Josh Kline’s Overtime (2020) for its ‘Project For a New American Century,’ acquisition round. The sculpture, which features an IV bag filled with liquids and chemicals used to manipulate an individual into working “overtime”: espresso, Adderall, deodorant, Red Bull, Ritalin, printer ink, Vitamin C, mouthwash, and toothpaste, draws attention to the weakened boundaries between life and work in the modern age.

View the acquisition in Arkive’s collection gallery here: https://arkive.net/gallery/overtime

Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1979, Josh Kline is an artist, collaborator and curator based in New York. Over the course of his career, Kline has become known for immersive art installations that combine video, sculpture, photography and design to evoke pressing societal themes, including income inequality, the gig economy and social media surveillance. Over the past two decades, Kline’s works have forced audiences to question the trajectory of humanity while deconstructing the contemporary ruins of the American dream.

“Josh Kline is one of the sharpest critics of our generation, his works challenge the status quo and address the transformative effects technology has on our society,” said Tom McLeod, co-founder and Executive Director of Arkive. “With a clear focus on the deterioration of the work-life balance in our modern society, Overtime (2020) is an ideal addition to Arkive’s ‘Making the Invisible Visible’ collection.”

Named after the artist’s mid-career survey at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City, Arkive’s fourteenth acquisition round ‘Project For a New American Century,’ presented three potential Kline works for community consideration. The selected work belongs to an IV sculpture series alongside others named Insomnia and Clean. Overtime makes use of Kline’s notorious uncanny approach to material to cleverly examine the dangerous practices we’ve normalized to meet the demands of an unbridled work culture.

“Throughout his career, Josh has been taking a critical look at how technology has impacted society and the lives of individuals.” said Christopher Y. Lew, former Nancy and Fred Poses Curator at the Whitney and Arkive member. “It’s fitting for Arkive, which has been modeling what a web3 institution can be, to acquire Overtime, a powerful comment on the neoliberal economy.”

About Arkive

Arkive is the world’s first distributed museum curated by the people. Built by alums from MoMA and Gagosian, Arkive was co-founded by Tom McLeod, a 5x founder who exited his last startup, Omni, to Coinbase, and prior to that, ran Pagelime (acquired by SurrealCMS in 2015), LolConnect (acquired by Tencent in 2012), and Imaginary Feet which developed 15+ profitable iPhone apps enjoyed by over 10 million users.

For more information, visit Arkive.net.

Contact Information

Brook Klingel

Senior Account Executive

VSC for Arkive

arkive@vsc.co