Transforming misfortune
description
Job searching in 2025 turned out to be a nightmare for many young graduates. Since July, I have received 147 rejection letters during my job search. It is hard to read them every day and keep going. To deal with the frightening feeling of failure, I decided to transform this misfortune into a fine opportunity — «147 Rejections» performance.
process
First of all, I sketched a lot of variants of space visualisations. It helps to prevent a lot of challenges during mounting and building the set.
All the walls in the exhibition space were already occupied, so I decided to make a paper waterfall instead!
I printed out some of the recently received rejection letters and turned them into a paper waterfall.
It was a therapeutic process to crumble rejections and quickly staple them without a second thought for each other.
how to show the Misery?
Details
With my performance, I wanted to highlight how miserable a person feels while endlessly applying for a job, knowing that the pile of rejections is growing. I use wire and shackles to 'chain' myself to the working place and highlight the feeling of imprisonment that people experience while searching.
24 hours job-hunt
Performance
I sat 'chained' to my desk for four days at the expo, applying for jobs. That's around 6 hours a day. Many visitors approached me to share their experiences and job search tips.
Out of a million job openings, you only need one 'yes'
During the performance, I felt huge support from the audience and realised that everyone had experienced this frustrating moment in their lives. However, they also noted that out of a million job openings, you only need one ‘yes’. So there’s no need to lose hope.
