Kickback
2014.
Intervention; T-shirt, video documentation;
Video duration: 02'19".
Hashterms
A form of environmental pollution that constitutes a vastly growing infoscape, resulting from the epidemics of information production and consumption.
‘Weltschmerz’ is a literary concept derived from the German words ‘Welt’ (world) and ‘Schmerz’ (pain). It describes the feeling experienced by someone who believes that reality cannot satisfy their mental expectations. 'Netzschmerz' relates to the unease experienced upon acknowledging the deliberate production of the collapse of modern political, social, and cultural models through infowarfare across information networks (Netz).
Kickback is a series of interventions in global fast-fashion retail stores in which modified goods are returned for resale to offer critical commentary on current consumption–production ethics.
The intervention was carried out in 2014 in St Petersburg, when the artist bought a few plain white T‑shirts from the well-known clothing chain. Without removing any tags from the T‑shirts, the artist used a professional screen‑printing technique to print the T‑shirt with the text: 'Please Ignore This Text - Keep on Shopping', as if they had been originally designed that way. The next day he went back to the store to return and be refunded for his newly modified T‑shirt, telling the store’s cashier that it just didn’t fit him. The store staff member, without suspecting anything, accepted the T‑shirt and refunded him. The following day the artist returned to the store to find that his self‑modified T‑shirt was now on sale again, complete with a reattached magnetic anti‑theft tag. The T‑shirt’s new guise had even prompted the store to display it in a more prominent position on the clothes rack. A series of similar events has since been carried out.
'Kickback' film, 2014
'Kickback' Film Stills
'Kickback' exhibited at Akkta, a solo show in Anna Nova Gallery, St. Petersburg, 2018
'Kickback' exhibited at Akkta, a solo show in Anna Nova Gallery, St. Petersburg, 2018
'Kickback' exhibited at Akkta, a solo show in Anna Nova Gallery, St. Petersburg, 2018
Works from the Series
Kickback
2014.
Intervention; T-shirt, video documentation;
Video duration: 02'19".
Hashterms
A form of environmental pollution that constitutes a vastly growing infoscape, resulting from the epidemics of information production and consumption.
‘Weltschmerz’ is a literary concept derived from the German words ‘Welt’ (world) and ‘Schmerz’ (pain). It describes the feeling experienced by someone who believes that reality cannot satisfy their mental expectations. 'Netzschmerz' relates to the unease experienced upon acknowledging the deliberate production of the collapse of modern political, social, and cultural models through infowarfare across information networks (Netz).
Kickback is a series of interventions in global fast-fashion retail stores in which modified goods are returned for resale to offer critical commentary on current consumption–production ethics.
The intervention was carried out in 2014 in St Petersburg, when the artist bought a few plain white T‑shirts from the well-known clothing chain. Without removing any tags from the T‑shirts, the artist used a professional screen‑printing technique to print the T‑shirt with the text: 'Please Ignore This Text - Keep on Shopping', as if they had been originally designed that way. The next day he went back to the store to return and be refunded for his newly modified T‑shirt, telling the store’s cashier that it just didn’t fit him. The store staff member, without suspecting anything, accepted the T‑shirt and refunded him. The following day the artist returned to the store to find that his self‑modified T‑shirt was now on sale again, complete with a reattached magnetic anti‑theft tag. The T‑shirt’s new guise had even prompted the store to display it in a more prominent position on the clothes rack. A series of similar events has since been carried out.
'Kickback' film, 2014
'Kickback' Film Stills
'Kickback' exhibited at Akkta, a solo show in Anna Nova Gallery, St. Petersburg, 2018
Works from the Series
Studio Addresses
Ikejiri, Setagaya, Tokyo, Japan
Neubau, Vienna, Austria
Studio
E. G. Kraft – artist-researcher, founder
Anna Kraft – researcher, director
Contact:
mail[at]kraft.studio
Studio Addresses
Ikejiri, Setagaya, Tokyo, Japan
Neubau, Vienna, Austria
Contact
mail[at]kraft.studio
Studio
E. G. Kraft – artist-researcher, founder
Anna Kraft – researcher, director
