After Greed Became Form

Hypercapitalism (mass noun)

Pronunciation /ˈhʌɪpəkapɪt(ə)lɪz(ə)m/

an extreme form of capitalism, which goes beyond the profit generated by private owners through trade and industry in order to sustain efficient allocation of resources, political freedoms and production and into a destructive level of profit which depletes natural resources, destroys natural habitats and widens the gap between the world’s richest and poorest.

After Greed Became Form asks artists to respond to the last three decades of decadence and greed, both in society and in the art world in particular and asks them to question if we need more stuff in the world (and if we do, what should that ‘stuff’ be)?

Since Andy Warhol’s infamous celebration of consumerism, capitalism - now out of control, has left us in a period of hypercapitalism, where in a quest to feed our egos with status and wealth, we find ourselves destroying our natural habitat, exhausting natural resources and creating an ever cavernous schism between the rich and the poor.

The exhibition responds to the age we are all living through, full of anger, disappointment and fear for the future. Gone are the days of diamond skulls and bronzed phallacies. To survive this movement, we need to change the way we create and the ethics we hold. After greed became form, we changed our currencies to capture the value of people and the planet.