Happiness Machines

The group exhibition 'Happiness Machines' takes its name from an episode of the BBC TV series 'The Century of the Self' made by Adam Curtis; 'this series is about how those in power have used Freud's theories to try and control the dangerous crowd in an age of mass democracy'. Curtis plots the lesser-known story of the growth of the mass-consumer society in Europe and the United States that links individual freedom with consumerism. It tells how the all-consuming self was created, by whom and in whose interests.

Happiness Machines profiles Sigmund Freud’s nephew Edward Bernays whose legacies and ideas still shape the way we live our lives today. Bernays utilized his uncle’s theories to manipulate the general public. Freud claimed to have discovered instinctive yet dangerous primitive sexual and aggressive forces hidden inside the minds of all human beings. Bernays believed that the masses could be controlled and satiated with consumer products and an aspiration lifestyle.

HAPPINESS MACHINES

a group exhibition

opening: Friday, 26th March 2010 from 19.00 - 22.00h at RISE Berlin

featuring work by:

Alexander Heaton, Christina Mitrentse, Christophe Chemin, Eileen Cooper, Eddie Nuttall, Guillaume Airiaud & Philippe Comtesse, Hector De Gregorio, João Leonardo, Jonas Ranson, Jan Kiefer, Jon John, Jenus Kahmke, Laurel Johannesson, Lee Wagstaff, Liz Neal, Master Patrick, Matthew Brindle, Richard Sawdon Smith, Stephen Dunne, Tomi Paasonen, Vanda Playford, Xavier Stentz

opening times: Friday to Sunday 13.00 - 19.00 or by appointment

exhibition runs until 25th April 2010