Alles in Ordnung

Alles in Ordnung is a spatial installation that contains an archive of collected and rearranged everyday objects. The ongoing archive consists of three selected and modularly structured types – from candy, ice cream, cheese, yoghurt and cigarette wrappers to bottle twist tops and cotton swabs – collected during a year-long process of accumulation and consumption. The discarded waste and storage material provides information about one's own eating habits, but also aims to reveal the underlying economic conditions.

With the ban on single-use plastic, cotton swabs with plastic handles became a rare and thus valuable resource. As the ambivalent material drove consumption through its affordability, it became not only an excuse for reckless human behavior, but also the object of material culture of the working class. The disappearance of plastic raises the question of who can afford the ban – and is it actually saving the planet? 

Wien Museum, MUSA Startgalerie, Vienna (November 2021)

©Johanna Pianka/Jelena Micić