The Care Manual for a Burnt-Out Future project is based on the idea that burnout is not just an individual psychological condition, but a broader symptom of a system that overloads bodies, both human and non-human, over the long term. The parallel between the exhausted human and the "burnt out" object or organism allows us to view fatigue as a shared experience across species and materials.

The authors of the exhibition are interested in what happens to what has ceased to be productive. Where do objects that have outlived their usefulness go? What does their non-functionality mean in an environment where value is measured by performance? They take discarded, non-functional objects, some found in and around the Fishery, and bring them into the exhibition space as bodies that deserve our attention.

The space of the Fishery is transformed into a massage parlor for tired entities. Four seats in the corners of the café will offer the audience the opportunity for gentle touch and care, not with the aim of repairing or returning the objects to circulation, but as a gesture of relationship. A burnt-out computer slathered in cream does not become a functional tool; it becomes a body that can remain with dignity.

Care here is not a means to restore performance. It is divorced from the logic of productivity and profit. Just as a person doesn't need to "function again" immediately after burnout, a decommissioned object doesn't need to be put back into service. To remain with dignity is to recognize the value of the body, human and non-human, even in its dysfunction.