Vernissage 26 October 2019, 7 pm
The economic principle of efficiency, whether taking into account the minimal or maximal principle, is increasingly applied in social spheres, be it in education or health care settings. In everyday language the infiltration of economic thinking is easy to recognise: the patient becomes a client, an administrative act a service and a donation sponsoring.
On the one hand economisation is, in this sense, penetrating our social systems and therefore the foundation of a wide-reaching societal imbalance; on the other hand this penetration is the cause of a questionable set of values - higher, faster, further - success, career, promotion - the principle of merit as a guiding principle has embedded itself in our daily lives, generating constant pressure to succeed and inciting a fear of failure. These aspects, in turn, lead to xenophobia and radicalisation because an individual’s social position, and thus the opportunity for optimal education, health and provision in old age, depends on success. Social classes are largely differentiated by the economic success of individuals.
Today, the only thing as identity-forging as work is family. We are therefore trapped in a chain of dependency consisting of performance and social pressure which, consequently, incites large-scale disruption throughout the whole of society. Nevertheless, let’s look ahead to the future - where extensive changes seem likely to arise. A shift in values is foreseeable. Many academics anticipate that within as little as 50 years, less than 10 percent of the population will be required to make necessary goods and services available.
Is this utopic or dystopic? Are we looking towards a future of social justice, or are the consequences for social and economic systems so dramatic that social conflicts seem unavoidable? Should we start learning how to swim now in order to stay ahead of the game? This is a far-reaching and currently much-discussed topic which - with regard to the research on the questions of the 21st century - we would like to explore and discuss in the Oben bleiben (stay on top) exhibition.