do nothing company
DIGITAL
do nothing company is a creative community program by artist Nie Lisha and director maomaoyu.
APRIL 28, 2025
Can you introduce yourselves? How did you come up with the idea of Do Nothing Company?
do nothing company was founded in 2024 by Nie Lisha and maomaoyu. Nie had already been exploring these ideas around work culture since her Endlessly Idle, with Time-a multi-channel video work released in 2019. Between all these times till now, she kept thinking how to get these ideas to be alive and circulate outside of art.
The name ‘do nothing company’ came from this perfect moment driving around Manhattan with a friend who was singing Jay-Z "In New York, concrete jungle where dreams are made of, there is nothing I can do."She changed the lyrics from Jay-Z’s version’ nothing i can’t do’ to her ‘nothing i can do’. And it just clicked. That is exactly what we wanted to create - a place for people who feel stuck in this brutal work culture where it is highly competitive and exploited.
Nie firstly started building this idea in Unreal Engine which is a game development software, sketching out these scenes where office workers just snap and start breaking through their cubicle walls.
Maomaoyu, who is a director, joined the partnership. That's when do nothing started moving forward. We got this chance to make a music video for a chinese band the Big Wave for their song ‘Circus’. This is how we bring the do nothing company’s office from 3D software to reality for the first time. It was wild seeing it exists in real space, even if just for a day on set. The temporary nature of it felt right somehow.
do nothing company was founded in 2024 by Nie Lisha and maomaoyu. Nie had already been exploring these ideas around work culture since her Endlessly Idle, with Time-a multi-channel video work released in 2019. Between all these times till now, she kept thinking how to get these ideas to be alive and circulate outside of art.
The name ‘do nothing company’ came from this perfect moment driving around Manhattan with a friend who was singing Jay-Z "In New York, concrete jungle where dreams are made of, there is nothing I can do."She changed the lyrics from Jay-Z’s version’ nothing i can’t do’ to her ‘nothing i can do’. And it just clicked. That is exactly what we wanted to create - a place for people who feel stuck in this brutal work culture where it is highly competitive and exploited.
Nie firstly started building this idea in Unreal Engine which is a game development software, sketching out these scenes where office workers just snap and start breaking through their cubicle walls.
Maomaoyu, who is a director, joined the partnership. That's when do nothing started moving forward. We got this chance to make a music video for a chinese band the Big Wave for their song ‘Circus’. This is how we bring the do nothing company’s office from 3D software to reality for the first time. It was wild seeing it exists in real space, even if just for a day on set. The temporary nature of it felt right somehow.
How do you define ‘doing nothing’ — is it a form of resistance, a strategy, a fantasy, or just the honest state of most office jobs?
Imagination itself is already political and a form of resistance. "Doing nothing" here isn't literally doing nothing, but refusing to participate in the current working culture. Capitalism thrives on capturing your attention and desire, making you work just to feed the cycle. We need to practice very hard in order to resist it. Instead of a fantasy, I would more likely wanna say ‘do nothing’ is a reminder, a goal, and we all have a long way to go.
A company is fundamentally an emptiness, a game we can all play with. Technically, a company is just a group of people coming together to create economic value. However, the monetary value is fluid, it depends on who holds the power to define it. Do Nothing Company is a statement - it's about working with goals beyond economic growth.
Can you talk about the design and aesthetic choices behind Do Nothing Company in speaking about your concept?
We wish it could be a balance of humor and critique. The reality we are living in is so heavy, we wish to navigate through a way that reduces its weight, and maybe push things forward a little bit.
What references — cultural, artistic, corporate — have shaped the tone of Do Nothing Company?
We have been highly influenced by the reality we are facing. Socialist modernism is one thing that really defines our aesthetic as Chinese urban space was greatly influenced by the Soviet Union after the war. We grew up surrounded by its geometric forms, clean lines, mass housing, and its ideology.
We have also been highly influenced by Taoism, which speaks of doing nothing while doing everything. I think this is also how we arrived at the concept of "do nothing."
Both socialist modernism and Taoism are coded in our aesthetic genes. They may seem contradictory in some ways, but we would say one represents the reality while the other provides the methodology for navigating the reality.
What’s your process like as collaborators — how do you go from an idea to a fully realized world of Do Nothing Company?
do nothing company is an idea and an ideal state. It’s a statement and mission of how we act and move forward. To enrich it, we wish to keep this space open to collaborators, and participants.
Looking forward, how do you see the world of Do Nothing Company evolving — will it grow into other formats?
We are currently preparing to launch a new program in collaboration with musicians and artists. Doing nothing sounds simple but is probably one of the hardest things to practice in our contemporary culture. We want to keep the door open, and slowly move forward with people.
Our reality is changing at a fast pace because of technology. do nothing company has to grow into different formats in order to reach more people. We will enter the market at some point, this is the reality game that we need to play with. Along this path, we need to make decisions carefully because the capitalist can easily trap us.
Looking forward, how do you see the world of Do Nothing Company evolving — will it grow into other formats?
We are currently preparing to launch a new program in collaboration with musicians and artists. Doing nothing sounds simple but is probably one of the hardest things to practice in our contemporary culture. We want to keep the door open, and slowly move forward with people.
Our reality is changing at a fast pace because of technology. do nothing company has to grow into different formats in order to reach more people. We will enter the market at some point, this is the reality game that we need to play with. Along this path, we need to make decisions carefully because the capitalist can easily trap us.