Abundance is a performance art that explores how, in a ceaseless race for evolution and domination, modern man loses his identity and becomes a 'garbage man', a recipient of society's waste. Mass consumption affects not only the environment, but human identity itself.
From the Industrial Revolution to the present day, the tools of human evolution — both material and immaterial — have turned man into a being that is alien to both his environment and his true self. In this constant struggle, the 'free' individual has become trapped in a capitalist system where ambition becomes a restraint and identity becomes alienated.
My artistic practice explores the delicate balance between individuality and collective structures in an age of overconsumption. Through performance, installation and object making, I focus on processes that reveal physical and emotional overload.
During rehearsals and performances, I create plaster casts of my face to generate multiple personas that embody both personal identity and depersonalization under the weight of excess.
I appear in costume, the symbol of modern dignity, and frantically scan the room, filling my pockets and clothes with 'junk', putting myself in an exhausting loop.
I construct a 'garbage man', an anthropomorphic pile of rubbish. I attempt to 'button up' the figure, but fail.
- I transform into a weary figure and approach the audience, handing them double-sided mirror so they can see their reflection. At the same time, I request their help in wrapping my head in plaster.
- I return to my uniform, but I am now stripped and revert to the repetitive action of 'stealing' items until I am exhausted.
When the plaster dries, I vainly try to remove it with my bare hands, which is practically impossible. I then ask the audience to do the same. Finally, I offer the audience a cutter to cut the plaster, creating my own 'plaster skull'.
Throughout the 40–45-minute performance, there is a tinnitus-like sound that I would call the sound of silence.
A landfill landscape remains, bearing the energy footprint of my daily recycling set-up with the 'garbage man', as well as the two installations featuring sculptural facemasks made from my own likeness. Members of the public can observe the traces of this process. Through this work, I explore the emotional consequences of abundance, and how the promise of 'more' can lead to saturation, depersonalization, and entropy rather than completion.
Through this work, I encourage the audience to view abundance not as prosperity, but as an unstable and fragile overload that puts a strain on both the human body and our collective ecosystems.
Technical requirements:
• Indoor space: ~9 m²
• Normal room white lighting
• 4–5 large black garden waste bags filled with all kinds of recycled everyday packaging
• Stage equipment: black costume (Garbage-Man), two installations: a totem and a ready-made installation with plaster masks.
A ten-minute version condenses the essence of the performance, following the key stages from the entrance into the space to the ritual placement of the mask on the totem.
