Savings & Shelves

Headquarters is pleased to present a new body of work by Amalia Ulman ( http://amaliaulman.eu/ ).

Förrlibuckstrasse 62, 5th Floor
8005 Zürich, Switzerland
http://theheadquarters.org/


"Savings & Shelves"

Consumerism is not limited to the object consumed: it references the act of consumption.
You can decrease the budget but you cannot erase the desire to acquire, to posses, to attain.
In times of scarcity collection starts: clutter, savings.
When the horizon is vague, aggregation is necessary to create an appropriate environment in case of meagreness.
An appropriate refuge.

Mending, repairing, fixing, patching.
Customisation of the old object as a means of renewal.

Refurbishing is the privilege of the one who is in the power of replacing, the one with access to the new.

Stickers are the instantaneous customisation technique. And promotional decals reinforce the symbolic value of a purchase.
When the object is absent, the sticker functions as a reference.
When the acquisition is impossible, the adhesive metaphor represents one’s aspirations.

Repetition as an analogy of wealth: self-indulgence through the creation of unfinished works. Never-endlessly sketching eyes, avoiding to draw the face.

The accumulation of the cheap.

“We will stop putting stickers on the fridge as soon as we start doing well.”