.mpeg presents:
Liquid Consumption
Ivelina Ivanova, 2023, 15 Min.
14.5. – 14.6.2024
An exploration of post-socialist Bulgaria's evolving retail landscape: an intricate interplay between consumerism, power, and political history. The Balkan fusion between big chain stores and small businesses reveals the processes of gentrification, corporate colonization, and societal changes. Semi-functional underpass shopping halls serve as a symbol of a bygone era, where products and stalls disintegrate, melt, morph, and merge. A visual transformation of products and architecture gradually leads to the dystopian heaven of the mall—the gleaming representation of Western capitalist ideals embraced today. The meticulously planned shopping centre environment hints at the potential concealment of deeper anxieties and a subconscious submission to mass surveillance and consumerism. Ultimately, whether within futuristic buildings or decaying underpasses, and in any architectural context, the modern human remains entrapped in an endless consumerist cycle.
In the window of the moving picture experimental garage .mpeg, FILZ regularly presents video art. Located on Lützner Straße 39 in Leipzig, .mpeg operates daily after sunset.
Further information:
www.mpeg-art.space
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© Filmstills, Liquid Consumption, Ivelina Ivanova, 2023
