The show consists of two groups. They present different aspects of the intertwinement of emotions and capitalist ideologies. One group presents what the result is, the other, the causes.
Emotional Capitalism consists of three parts, detailing how the lures and allures of capitalism appeal to people to desire more than they can afford. A double projection, side by side, shows to phases of such a desire. This work is called All That Glitters.
All That Glitters
On one screen you see a woman walk through a dream house, a palatial building she is dreaming about buying. Next to it, she is confronted with the nightmarish consequences of overspending: the ruins of an abandoned house.
Then, a film called Eating Disorders, shows Emma stuffing herself, out of boredom and frustration, and enticed by gourmet food displays. We all know what such behaviour leads to.
Eating Disorders
On another wall, a range of 6 monitors shows the work Use Value. Six short, looped films titled, respectively: Fashion, Gourmet, Stealing, Rejection, Pawnbroker, and Cynicism show various stages of the downfall of one addicted to spending and acquiring unnecessary luxury goods.
Use Value
The second group is titled House Woman (Homage to Louise Bourgeois) and consists of two parts.
One is a large-screen projection, Boredom at Home, depicts the monotony of the everyday life when one has no purpose, ambition, or interests.
Boredom at Home
The other work is a combination of three monitors with scenes of different forms of boredom: All That is Solid Melts into Air – Dining Dead, Sense-Boring, and Navel Gazing.
All That is Solid Melts into Air
Cast:
Main roles: Marja Skaffari: woman
Thomas Germaine: husband, lover, second lover
Mathieu Montanier: meddling neighbour
Helinä Hukkataival: mother-in-law
Astrid Törneroos: daughter
William Stenius: young neighbour
Supporting cast:
Göran Stenius: bailiff
Lena Nordman: social science teacher
Michiel Engel: money monger
Pierre Lassovski: designer salesman
Main Crew:
Christopher Wessels: cinematography
Sara Pinheiro: sonologist (sound recording and design)
Milja Korpela: hair and make-up artist
Remco Hekker: colour grading
B camera: Michelle Williams Gamaker
Script: Mieke Bal, based on Gustave Flaubert’s Madame Bovary