29 Nov A New Look at Materialism by Studio DRIFT

IDF was excited to explore this refreshing take on the subject of consumerism through creative projects. Studio DRIFT’s Lonneke Gordign and Ralph Nauta engaged in a process they termed “de-producing”, where they broke apart and reprocessed man-made items such as a Russian AK-47, a Volkswagen Beetle, an iPhone 4, and more. These specific items were chosen for the piece Materialism, with the focus of these objects only being on their functionality. The Dutch artists explain,“‘Materialism’ confronts the viewer on a very elementary level with the things we surround ourselves with and the materials that comprise them.”

The raw materials of each object are melted down into the separate materials that make up each one and are subsequently molded into the rectangular blocks as shown. The purpose of this is to provide an artistic commentary on all the natural resources and human labor that goes into the production of each of the items in the collection. A concept society continuously fails to comprehend the full breadth of. 

“‘Materialism’ confronts the viewer on a very elementary level with the things we surround ourselves with and the materials that comprise them.”

“Everything that is bought and consumed has an impact, reinforcing complex systems of resource extraction, labor, manufacturing, and distribution. Materialism works to reveal the dimensions of the materialism these systems feed, illuminating the excessive use of the earth’s gifts, an irreplaceable matter that humans incessantly rip away from it, squander, and then dispose of with little thought,” the artists say. When examined from such an angle, even the most basic of everyday objects feel like society as a collective is expending the Earth’s energy, or stealing from the hand that feeds us.