THE DESIRE FOR A DONUT (ECONOMY)
24 February – 05 May 2024
bambi van balen, Branco van Gelder & Milo van Riet | TOOLS FOR ACTION
Eline Benjaminsen & Dayna Casey
Cian Dayrit
DISNOVATION.ORG
ro heinrich
Toril Johannessen
Carlijn Kingma
Jonas Staal
Marjet Zwaans & David Habets
RADIUS CCA
Delft
The Netherlands
The exhibition THE DESIRE FOR A DONUT(ECONOMY) functions as a conversation starter for RADIUS 2024 year programme THE LIMITS TO GROWTH, which intends to reset the relationship between economy and ecology. With the work of twelve artists, the exhibition explores the possibilities of grounding a system in which economic and ecological well-being are considered integrally, within planetary boundaries. What shape should such a more-than-human and climate-inclusive economy that promotes a broader definition of welfare take?
MARJET ZWAANS & DAVID HABETS, ECO ECHO, ECHO ECO, PHOTO: GUNNAR MEIER, © RADIUS CCAJONAS STAAL, 94 MILLION YEARS OF COLLECTIVISM, PHOTO: GUNNAR MEIER, © RADIUS CCATORIL JOHANNESSEN, WORDS AND YEARS, PHOTO: GUNNAR MEIER, © RADIUS CCACARLIJN KINGMA, THE WATERWORKS OF MONEY, PHOTO: IRA GRÜNNBERGER, © RADIUS CCAELINE BENJAMINSEN & DAYNA CASEY, COLLAPSED MYTHOLOGIES: A GEOFINANCIAL ATLAS, THE FLORA – HEDGING, PHOTO: GUNNAR MEIER, © RADIUS CCACIAN DAYRIT, TREE OF LIFE IN THE STATE OF DECAY AND REBIRTH, PHOTO: GUNNAR MEIER, © RADIUS CCA
The current capitalist system based on the promise of increasing economic growth, progress and prosperity generates a permanent state of crises. The accumulation of the various crises we are experiencing today—from climate and health crises, to economic, social and political crises—are the result of an all-encompassing exploitation of the environment, human and non-human alike. The exhibition THE DESIRE FOR A DONUT(ECONOMY) presents the work of a group of artists providing insight into the systemic crises we are facing. In response to this systemic crisis, their work focuses on the democratisation of current economic systems and features proposals for more hopeful, egalitarian and reciprocal economic systems, informed by alternative economic systems such as the donut economy, eco-socialism and the degrowth movement. The participating artists share the realisation that such a complex, multi-layered and dynamic system requires more than one all-encompassing solution, and are united by a seemingly simple thought: infinite growth on a finite planet is simply not possible. To that end, the exhibition invites you to think about what really matters: decolonising growth as a profit motif, countering inequality, liberating creativity, and strengthening solidarity.
Text by Niekolaas Johannes Lekkerk.