Consumption in Art

Beginning:

Date: 12.11.2022

End:

Date: 16.04.2023

The term »consumption« is derived from the Latin word »consumere« which translates as to use up, to use, or to consume. However, »consumere« can also mean to waste, or to deplete. In this sense, »consumption« generally alludes to the use or exhaustion of more goods or services than necessary to live. Industrialization produced the first consumer society. Communal consumption generally strengthens social cohesion within a group, and any national economy needs consumption to function. However, after the emergence of mass consumption in the wake of the Second World War and ensuing globalization, our excessive consumption in the current era of the Anthropocene, climate crisis, and species extinction is pushing the planet to the limit.

The exhibition »Consumption in Art« presents artistic positions dedicated to the sociopolitical, economic, societal, and ecological aspects of (mass) consumption. Special attention is given to the current contradiction between the growing awareness of the problem of consuming without regard for the environment and the increasing exhaustion and depletion of resources on the one hand, and the unwillingness to depart from the necessity of economic growth, especially in the wake of the Covid pandemic, on the other hand. By juxtaposing contemporary artistic positions from the region with international artists, the show provides a new perspective on the extent of our everyday consumption.

Participating artists: Sophia Al-Maria, Bär+Knell, Mandy Barker, Oliver Braig, Angela Ender, Forensic Architecture, Hana Gamal, Eckart Hahn, O.W. Himmel, Miklós Kiss, Bobby Kolade (BUZIGAHILL), Diana Lelonek, Mary Mattingly, Fabrice Monteiro, Leeroy New, Gheorghe Popa, Lena Schabus, Klaus Staeck, Ea Torrado und Chino Neri (Daloy), Irmgard Wachendorff and Hermann Weber.