with Lala Rascic, 2002.

“Unnecessity out of pleasure” is an interactive photographic computer installation. On five computer screens the viewer can click on photographs of private spaces filled with objects. In every photograph the objects are thematically grouped as: CLOTHES, SHOES, COSMETICS, FOOD and GIFTS. The interaction with the photograph is realised when the viewer navigates the cursor over single objects. When the cursor is over a specific object, the same object becomes highlighted and a complementary text appears next to it, describing the object and its history or value. With a mouse click on the same object a sound is played. Every object has a different sound attached to it. The sounds are samples of field recordings made in shopping situations.

This work is a reflection on the way we are integrated into the consumer society. Even if we are aware and, furthermore, critical of the consumer mechanisms which govern everyday life, creating artificial needs, we are active and willing participants in the consumer game, if we want it or not. We develop personal consumer patterns and habits, we get emotionally attached to purchased goods, we introduce merchandise to our homes and lives. In this piece we are critically focusing attention on the process of consuming and shopping while at the same time we readily confess our own roles as consumers. Thru examples of symbiotic co-existence of us and “our” objects, we furthermore add value to the “goods” by acknowledging them their own “histories” and admitting them an active tie to our lives.

Originally the piece was shown in public space, a computer with the theme of FOOD was installed in a food shop, SHOES were installed in shoe shop, etc…

The work functions inside an exhibition space as well, installed as 5 monitors aligned next to each other. It can also function on one computer.