The exhibition 'shopping' in the Generali Foundation invites to reflect on the multifaceted aspects of consumer culture. The starting point is a favourite part of popular culture which, nowadays, does not necessarily involve the purchase of a specific product. Shopping is no longer restricted to the acquisition of goods but is an experience in itself.

Promenading along shopping streets, strolling and observing at the same time, has become a common pastime. Leisure time is spent in places which function as hidden markets. Visitors to the exhibition will find many different domains within which to experience, understand and critically reflect on aspects of 'shopping'. Simultaneously the exhibition space functions as a site of production and communication, and expands with the audio tour into the city.

The Audio-shopping-tour by Anette Baldauf and Katharina Weingartner starts with the visitor's experience and proposes to reflect on the economic, cultural and political contexts. The Media-station takes up the issue of the transformation from industry- to information- and media-economy and offers the possibility of medially re-working 'shopping' in various formats. In the Cineplex, the consumption of film and TV is positioned within the wider context of the consumer culture and a selected video library offers insight into the discussion of the 'shopping' theme.

fig.: Barbara Kruger, Totebag Foto: Dorit Margreiter Sammlung Generali Foundation
© 2000 Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY