freE-ink (2024)
intervention-installation | hacked supermarket price tagsExhibited at “Banal Devices“ - Digital Research in the Humanities and Arts, Münich, (2024); World’s Youth for Climate Justice, The Hague (NL)
A consumer walks in Albert Heijn, the largest food retailer in the Netherlands. We live in a moment where with only a small basket containing a soda, vegan meat, and dark chocolate, one manages to fund three different genocides in the Global South, in addition to palm oil extraction sourced from illegal plantations in Brazil - likely some child labor involved.
The price label reads “3+1 gratis”. In a world like this, a supermarket becomes an interface: it mediates individuals to global injustices, and the costs of the deforestation of indigenous land, for instance, are reflected in the final price written on the labels.
Image credits: Christy Westhovens
freE-ink exploits the vulnerabilities of Electronic Shelf Labels (ESL) commonly found in supermarkets, shifting the agency from wholesale retailers to shop-goers. The project is both an artistic research using everyday IoT devices and a call to action: I urge audiences to acquire an ESL, hack and place it in a location bearing activist messages to other consumers. As an intervention, freE-ink seeks not only to appropriate the devices used by major supermarket chains but also the very aesthetics of price tags to stimulate awareness in mass product consumption.
Further documentation
