Too-Too, Much-Much
Thomas Hirschhorn, 2010, dimensions variable, Museum Dhondt-Dhaenens, Deurle, Belgium, © 2010, courtesy of Galerie Chantal Crousel, Paris and the artist, photo: Romain Lopez
Thomas Hirschhorn
Thomas Hirschhorn is a Swiss multi-media artist who currently lives and works in Paris, France. He creates immersive environments, challenging the viewer to navigate spaces that have been inundated by the artifacts of consumption. Hirschhorn is a master at molding an avalanche of the mundane into surreal landscapes that overwhelm our senses and defy our expectations. These deliberately-crude, handcrafted works spill over the frames of their physical confines, a powerful symbol of our society’s big appetite. In our daily lives, we have the luxury of organizing, stashing, hiding and discarding our things, but in Hirschhorn’s world, we are forced to confront them. We are forced to wade through them and dig out from under them. And we are forced to heed the artist’s warning about our collective demands on nature: “‘Too Big to Fail’ no longer makes any sense. On the contrary, when something is Too Big, it must Fail.”
Explore the Gallery
Too-Too, Much-Much
Thomas Hirschhorn, 2010, dimensions variable, Museum Dhondt-Dhaenens, Deurle, Belgium, © 2010, courtesy of Galerie Chantal Crousel, Paris and the artist, photo: Romain Lopez
In “Too-Too, Much-Much,” we find ourselves buried amongst the products we have consumed. If archaeologists in the future were to dig up one of our landfills, what would it tell them about our lifestyles and values? Solid waste dumping grounds are a characteristic of all human settlements, and archaeologists use them to learn about past civilizations. Materials such as nylon, plastic and aluminum were rare or nonexistent a century ago, when wastes were more likely to be composed of paper, wood, and other biodegradable materials. But today, products and packaging made from glass, plastics and aluminum are common, and these materials will last for centuries without decomposing. In modern landfills, even biodegradable materials may not degrade because of the lack of air and water needed by microorganisms. “Garbologists,” such as William Rathje of the University of Arizona, have dug into landfills and found undecayed newspapers, leaves, and food over 30 years old. Garbologists of the future may single out the second half of the 20th century as a time of unprecedented wastefulness of the world’s resources. Shoppers today come home with (and immediately throw away) vast amounts of packaging made from a broad range of materials. As natural resources are depleted, the landfills from our throw-away society may become the mines of the future. Learn more about the history of trash management in this video and timeline.
Too-Too, Much-Much
Thomas Hirschhorn, 2010, dimensions variable, Museum Dhondt-Dhaenens, Deurle, Belgium, © 2010, courtesy of Galerie Chantal Crousel, Paris and the artist, photo: Romain Lopez
How important is it to recycle our beverage bottles? In thiseducational video, see three potential journeys of an empty plastic bottle. The development of sustainable food and beverage packaging is critical to reducing consumer waste and its impact on the environment. One area of focus is the creation of “greener” plastics by substituting plant material for petroleum products at the production phase. While this reduces the impact of producing plastics, it does not address the many other issues associated with the use and disposal of plastics. Other approaches include Tetrapak cartons, which are produced in a more sustainable fashion, but which also cause environmental issues in the disposal phase. Like older “paper vs. plastic” debates, the best answer is neither. Can you imagine a shopping experience free of packaging? This article describes the evolution of packaging-free shopping, and this post describes the development of edible packaging.
Concordia Concordia
Thomas Hirschhorn, 2012, dimensions variable, installation view, Gladstone Gallery, New York, © 2012, courtesy of Gladstone Gallery, New York and Brussels and the artist, photo: Anna Kowalska
In the words of the artist: “As many people, I saw the pictures showing the inside of the sunken cruise ship Costa Concordia after the wreck. The floor emerging upright had become a wall, the wall was turned into a ceiling and the ceiling into the opposite wall. Every non-attached thing was floating in water, like a barricade in movement. A barricade made of all that points out the impassable and cumbersome inutility. I was struck by this apocalyptic upside down vision of the banal and cheap “nice, fake, and cozy” interior of the overturned ship. This pictures the uncertainty and precariousness of the past, of the present moment, and of the future. I saw it as an amusing and disturbing but nevertheless logical and convincing form. This must be the form of our contemporary disaster. This must be the ultimate expression of the precarious, which nobody wants to confront. ‘Get back on board, captain!’ shouted the coast guard officer to the already safely landed captain of the Costa Concordia who refused to go back to his vessel. ‘Get back on board!’ means there is definitely no escape – we have to confront the self-produced disaster in its incredible normality – there is no way out, there is no place to flee, there is no safe land anymore! This is the starting point that made me think of and start out to conceive the work ‘Concordia, Concordia.'” For more insight into this work, read the complete artist statement for the exhibition. Learn more about Thomas Hirschhorn and his work in thisinterview in Flash Art.
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Thomas Hirschhorn transforms mountains of consumer goods and handcrafted objects into surreal environments that force us to confront the excesses of our culture. If you are inspired by his work, you can take action in your own life. Select one or more pledges listed below and spread the word. You can also learn more by visiting our Pledge Center. Let’s #EndOvershoot and save our #OneEarth.