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Moritz Meister, MSc
title | Ausstellungskatalog: Über die "Eingriffe ins Kinderzimmer" |
type | exhibition catalogue |
texts | full text: Socialization, the process by which a society shapes its youngest members into
socially agreeable individuals, is not merely a psychosocial, but also a material and
technological phenomenon. If you have ever watched a three-year-old trying
to swipe left in a family photo album, you'll know what we mean. Children acquire
contemporary behaviors, roles and ideologies through their interaction with the
objects that surround them. Ever since the concept of childhood as a distinct phase
of life was introduced in modern times, this process has been called playing; objects
are produced solely for this purpose and are called toys. Children use these objects
to simulate the reality of adults, from doll's kitchens to war games. The roles that are
taught by toys depend on the structure of a society and its existing power relations.
Awareness for this process has grown in the 21st century: Barbie dolls now almost
resemble women with a healthy weight, characters in children's books are becoming
increasingly diverse and children are less commonly frightened into good behavior
by the "bogeyman". Toys that are not politically correct can cause major problems
for their producers. At first glance, the works in the series Interferences in the
Nursery seem to willingly take this risk. They appear cynical, wicked and pedagog
ically questionable. Cute farm animals are turned into meat products, traffic play
mats show a border with barbed wire fences, the picture book character Conni
drowns. Is it all just black humor? Not entirely, because the works also contain
a political dimension.
In defiance of the common practice of simply correcting toys and games that
no longer correspond to the zeitgeist, the Interferences have no intention of pacifying
social contradictions by making them invisible. On the contrary, they utilize toys
as a very suitable means for conveying direct messages. Toys serve as a medium for
treading the fine line between cynical exaggeration for maximum effect and certain,
completely unironic questions: For what world do we want to, or rather will we need
to, prepare our children through play?
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publishers | Universität für Angewandte Kunst Wien |
date | 2021 |
location | Wien, Österreich |
URL | https://www.klassekartak.com/ |
published in | title: Ausstellungskatalog "Fuck You Vey Much" - Designers as Troublemakers. editors: Universität für Angewandte Kunst Wien. Klasse für Grafik Design Prof. Oliver Kartak |
pages | 116, 127 |
contributors | Meister Moritz: text contribution Ludwig Pfeiffer: artist |