Prix Pictet - Consumption

I participated on the study visit yesterday to the Prix Pictet - Consumption exhibition at the Victoria and Albert museum.  I had been bowled over by the previous one (Power) so was really excited to be able to make this one too.  The best thing about these visits is the opportunity to meet and interact with tutors and other students.

This cycle however (the fifth) wasn't as striking or impactful overall as the fourth.  I found elements of it amazing (which I will elaborate on further down) but also there were sections that I didn't feel were as compelling including the Laureate, Michael Schmidt, who also sadly died yesterday.

My notes below set out the order in which I viewed the exhibition.

Adam Bartos - Yard Sale

This is the first portfolio you see as you walk through the door, and I could really relate to this.  Uncomplicated context - quite simply a visual representation of clutter and stuff that can be accumulated and then has to be got rid of.  It reminded me of having car boot sales when moving house!  One picture I really liked was "Ernie & Mattress"; this has echoes of the end of a childhood with the familiar face of the Sesame Street character and the small single mattress, plus a few other toys.  For me this image really conveys the idea of ongoing consumption through the passage of life.

Ernie & Mattress (c) Adam Bartos

Hong Hao - My Things

I loved this - it was visually striking and unconventional in approach. To paraphrase the artist's statement, Hao scanned everyday objects over a period of 12 years to create a collection of artifacts that he then assembled into huge single images.  What is immediately striking about these images is that they are 2D - you see a flat surface.  It's as if they were laid out on a glass coffee table and photographed from underneath.  What's also intriguing, is how he decided the composition during the assemblage process?

Book – Keeping of 2007 A (c) Hong Hao

For instance, in "Book - Keeping of 2007 A", there is a definite composition; all there are two sets of books in opposing corners, small thing in the middle that draw your eye in, red (which has meaning in Chinese culture) in a few but not many places, tickets and CDs all together; so despite the immediate feeling of chaos, when you look closely it's actually very ordered.  You could also look at this portfolio for hours and always see something new.  Its colourful, geometric - and as one of the other students (Dave Hins) said, like a tetris game where all the shapes are neatly stacked.  And all of the objects seem to have a valid purpose.  Yes, there are about consumption, but not necessarily bad consumption - these are about information (books, CDs, business cards).

In contrast, "My Things No 1" is very chaotic.   You see rubbish, decaying food, the underside of fridge magnets - waste in other words.  And what is the inclusion of the hand about?

My Things No 1 (c) Hong Hao

The third image on display from this portfolio, "Bottom No 4", is very "beige".....  It shows the underside of everyday technology objects and packaging.  Not colourful, nor geometic, still ordered, does it have less impact?  Is this supposed to represent items we don't even notice?

Bottom No 4 (c) Hong Hao

For me, this collection was the most successful of all the portfolios on the consumption theme.  It really brought home how much stuff we have in our lives, and how much we throw away, how much we don't need, or even how much we do need!  It's a pity the whole portfolio wasn't on display, I would liked to have seen it, and I would dare to suggest that Hao should have been the Laureate!

Motoyuki Daifu - Project Family

This collection was very surprising!  This is not how I imagine life in Japan!  This portfolio shows chaos, lack of order, lack of discipline, extreme clutter, poor kitchen hygiene - all the opposites to my perception of Japanese culture.  Of course space is an issue in Japan, but even so, this is more reflective of how students live, not families!  In this portfolio, there is a polar relationship between the tiny space this family occupies, and the amount of stuff they have: two extremes that have collided.  Very interesting!

Abraham Oghobase - Untitled

This portfolio depicts guerrilla classifieds - brought about by the lack of space for advertising (due to every available surface being taken).  The photographer interacts with the pictures to demonstrate their lack of effectiveness.  Interesting, but not sure I like it.  I haven't been to Nigeria, but I used to live in Senegal and space is a problem there.  But if I had wanted to make a statement about consumption, I would have highlighted the rubbish tips (and children playing/animals feeding on them), people living in makeshift housing, chaotic and disordered architecture, the nouveau riche elements, rubbish in the streets, people living in the streets (antithesis of consumption?), and the enormous food supplies (surprising in a country with little resources).

Juan Fernando Herran - Escalas

There were some interesting images in this portfolio and particularly when compared with Project Family above.  This series is about people living underground or on the margins of society - due to the lack of space.  Shot in Medellin in Colombia, you really get a sense of this lack of space.  I was particularly interested in the image "Own Place".  Immediately struck by the clarity and light of the image (which you would not expect for an underground shot?) and the converging lines composition which is very effective, this is just amazing that someone should live here, with so little, and also keep it so clean - look at the brush in the bottom left-hand corner!!  This is the complete opposite to the Japanese family above, who perhaps were not financially compromised and who had too much stuff for their space and were not able to keep their space clean.  Also looking at this image, you see gaps in the roof - what happens when it rains?  Interestingly, the starburst effect of the light, is almost an import of the sun (assume narrow aperture?) - it's a proper underground world.

Own Place (c) Juan Fenando Herran

Laurie Simmons

When I saw this at the exhibition, I didn't know if Simmons was male or female, which raised a lot of obvious questions in my head.....I have since looked at the Prix Pictet website and know that she is female.  This is a surprising portfolio in many ways, and apart from the obvious quality of the photography, which is stunning, and that it made me remember the TAOP Assignment 4 exercise, I really enjoyed the challenges and intellectual arguments it raises.  The questions I initially asked, were about gender and sexual orientation.  I got the bit about loneliness in a crowded society (like social media?) - not having real relationships, but I wanted to know if the photographer had done this as an artistic experiment, or was he/she living vicariously through the doll?  On reading the Artist's Statement, I'm not sure what the answer to that is!

Other questions that I asked was does the Doll represent the air-brushed idealized female form, the source of great unhappiness in modern society, and how is this different to a child that has a pretend tea-party with all her toys?  Surely this is just the next step, the adult form, of an imaginary friend?

The photographer seems to claim that the Doll took on a consumerist personality of her own, without a thought for the waste she was creating - is this not Simmons projecting her own feelings on the subject through the Doll?  The masses of jewellery and shoes in a lot of people's life, the sugar obesity epidemic, there are some strong themes running through this series.

Rineke Dijkstra - Almerisa

This portfolio didn't work for me.  For a start it's about the survival of a refugee and successful integration into a new society, as the subject moves through her life cycle.  I'm not clear how this relates to the theme of consumption, unless it's about consumption being a feature of western life as a whole....and unfortunately I don't find the photography here very interesting either.  Sorry.

Michael Schmidt - Lebensmittel (Winner - Laureate)

An impressive collection of very simple images representing the food processing chain, from source to final article.  They look good presented as a tableau, and you get the idea of mass and quantity, and he challenges the thinking by simplifying and perhaps demystifying the photographic process, but sadly I didn't enjoy this portfolio as much as some of the others.

Boris Mikhailov - Tea, Coffee & Cappuccio

Interesting.  The small format makes you look hard, but being long-sighted, this was a challenge!  Obvious themes of globalization and Starbucksisation!  Cheap and plentiful commodities - everything can be bought these days.  BUT - if I submitted photographs for an OCA assignment that had blown out skies, the wrong white balance, wonky angles (beyond dramatic diagonal shots) they'd be sent back!!  I liked the inclusion of the cheap plastic tartan laundry bags though - we have so much stuff you need loads of luggage to store it in!

Mishka Henner - Beef and Oil

Well, firstly - WOW!  But secondly - who is the photographer?  If these are satellite photos, surely Henner is not the artist?  Or have I missed something?  But - visually stunning and almost abstract representations of landscapes scarred by the human desire for two commodities, beef and oil.  But this series is not just about human consumption, it's also about cattle consumption - the feeders where the spend the last period of their lives fattening up (and presumably the moral/ethical arguments abou that).

In Kern River Oil Field,  you see amazing detail.  And the more you look, the more you see.  From a distance a stunning abstract, but up close a complex web of intricate details.  In Cornado Feeders, again a beautiful abstract and an object (not sure what it is) that resembles a cattle heart? 

Allan Sekula - Fish Story

I don't know if I liked this series or not.  Interesting - yes, visually pleasing - not sure, does it work as a portfolio about consumption - yes definitely - there are some very strong themes in this portfolio with the container ships and salvage yards.  I did like B4 - Koreatown, but more as a stand alone, for the drama, mood, angles, and atmosphere!

B4 - Koreatown (c) Allan Sekula

All in all - a very interesting exhibition and experience.  The clear winner for me is Hong Hao, which has got me thinking about undertaking a similar exercise - maybe artifacts collected on a journey, for example, or all the items you use in just one day?