Advertising and printed packaging repeatedly give the impression that certain “values” such as freedom, love, strength, time, peace and solidarity are also provided with the purchase of a product. In her art project “Konsum-Werte-Madonna” (“Consumer Values Madonna”), the artist Stephanie Senge questions the extent to which the “values” promised on products can be reconciled with our own values and have an impact on our consumer behaviour.
On 10 September and 6 October, she embarks on a procession with selected consumer products that promise great values, for which she has created three Madonna figures. At the end and start of the procession, the purchases from discounters and shops “Rechts der Isar” (“Right of the Isar”) are made visible and open to public discussion.
Madonna figures often represent femininity, love, strength and beauty: concepts that are also present in Senge’s collection of consumer products. With the handmade Madonna figures and the procession, the artist also raises questions about the meaning of consumer products and art, the compatibility of Catholic traditions with demonstration culture, and femininity and consumption.
The first procession starts on 10 September in Harlaching at Hochleite 3 and leads to the square near the Marienklause accompanied by drumming. There, the consumer products are presented to mantra-like chants and music. On 6 October, the performance begins in Haidhausen on Wiener Platz with the exhibition of the “Konsum-Werte-Madonna” triptych. The “Konsum-Werte-Madonna” is decorated with consumer products, accompanied by musical mantras. Later, the procession makes its way to the Hofbräukeller accompanied by drums, followed by a lecture by Prof Dr Wolfgang Ullrich entitled “Values, values everywhere. What they bring us and why they are not without danger”.
Stephanie Senge, born in 1972 in Munich, lives and works in Berlin.
