Konsum in der Kunst

Forensic Architecture is presenting two films from its investigation Dispossession and the Memory of the Earth (2021), centred around land dispossession in Colombia and the effects of intensive banana cultivation for international consumption.

The term »consumer« originally derives from the Latin word »consumere«, which can be translated as “consume, use or take”. But »consumere« also has the meaning of wasting and exhausting, and as such, the term »consumption« generally means the use and consumption of goods or services that goes beyond what is needed for life.

Industrialization brought with it the first ‘consumer society’, whereby joint consumption always strengthened social cohesion in a group. Consumption is essential for the functioning of an economy, but after the advent of mass consumption after World War II and subsequent globalization, our sprawling consumption is reaching planetary limits in today’s age of interlocking climate crises.

The exhibition “Konsum in der Kunst” (“Consumption in Art”) shows artistic positions that deal with the topic of (mass) consumption and its socio-political, economic and ecological aspects. Above all, the current contradictions are reflected: on the one hand, there is an awareness of the problem of consumption without regard to the environment and the increasing waste and exhaustion of resources; but at the same time, the need for economic growth, which is mostly consumption-driven, has not disappeared.

The exhibition juxtaposes contemporary artistic positions from the region with international artists in order to provide a new perspective on the scope of our everyday consumption. Artists include: Sophia Al-Maria, Bär+Knell, Mandy Barker, Oliver Braig, Angela Ender, Forensic Architecture, Hana Gamal, Eckart Hahn, Miklós Kiss, Bobby Kolade (BUZIGAHILL), Diana Lelonek, Mary Mattingly, Fabrice Monteiro, Leeroy New, Gheorghe Popa, Lena Schabus, Klaus Staeck, Ea Torrado and Chino Neri (Daloy), Irmgard Wachendorff, Hermann Weber, OW Himmel.