UN/FAIR TRADE

Inequality in the world is constantly growing. Alongside politics, trade and commerce are responsible for this development. Therefore the latter are made the subject of the exhibition UN/FAIR TRADE. Albeit not in the sense of conventional criticism of globalisation, but rather in an attempt to draw attention to fair trade, above all fair exchange. This exhibition on the subject of global "Un/fair Trade" does not only show art works dealing with this theme, but – in co-operation with scientists from the fields of economics, sociology and cultural theory – it enters into an alliance with the Net. As in a Wikipedia structure or a blog, everyone can put his own thoughts, opinions, or even his own art work on the subject of "Un/fair Trade" on the Net. At the same time, these texts, opinions and art works will be projected into the real museum. Hence, every Net visitor becomes a participant and artist in the exhibition.

The exhibition itself thus consists of a curated part – the real art works at Neue Galerie – and an uncurated part – the art works on the Net. Every blog participant is a participant in the exhibition, anonymous or individualised, as the entire blog will be projected multiple times in the exhibition itself. And the real visitors to the museum will not only see the curated art works but can also access the Net data via a computer installation. By way of projections, the Net data will be part of the real exhibition. As such, every real visitor becomes part of the exhibition. The visitors to the museum can thus not only access information provided by curators and artists on site, but also information put on the Net by people who have never been to or will never go to the museum. Inversely, people will not only be able to participate remotely in the exhibition as viewers but also as users. Virtual and real spheres will penetrate each other. Remote and local viewers participate in the exhibition, both on the Net and in the real exhibition space, as the Net content is projected into the real exhibition space. Therefore, the method of the exhibition is itself an example of "fair play" and "fair trade".

www.un-fairtrade.org
www.steirischerherbst.at

http://www.steirischerherbst.at/2009/deutsch/index.php