SUPERMERCART, 1976
The critique of the world of consumerism and the role played by the mass media were subjects that interested many conceptual artists. This is the case of Eugènia Balcells in SUPERMERCART. An enormous composition, unfolded as a decalogue of consumption, it features small serialised objects as well as images ordered alphabetically and presented in series inside bags of transparent plastic, a format the artist had used previously in her “clear books”. Balcells opts for an aesthetic related to accumulation and codification, two of her habitual operations during those years; both of them had to do with the very essence of consumerism. When the installation was presented at the historical Sala Vinçon in Barcelona in 1976, the strips of objects in this “supermarket” could be purchased, in consonance with the title of the piece.
Technical details
- Original title:
- SUPERMERCART
- Registration number:
- RT.0015
- Artist:
- Balcells, Eugènia
- Date created:
- 1976
- Fonds:
- MACBA Collection. Barcelona City Council long-term. Gift of Rafael Tous (in process of being incorporated)
- Object type:
- Installation
- Media:
- Various materials encapsulated in polyethylene
- Dimensions:
- 55 stripes: 250 x 28 cm each (height x width)
- Credits:
- MACBA Collection. Long-term loan of Barcelona City Council. Gift of Rafael Tous and MACBA Collection. MACBA Consortium. Gift of Eugènia Balcells and Eugènia Balcells Foundation
- Copyright:
- © Eugènia Balcells i Eugènia Balcells Foundation
- It has accessibility resources:
- No
The MACBA Collection features Catalan, Spanish and international art and, although it includes works from the 1920s onwards, its primary focus is on the period between the 1960s and the present.
For more information on the work or the artist, please consult MACBA's Library. To request a loan of the work, please write to colleccio [at] macba.cat.
If you need a high resolution image of the work, you must submit an image loan request.
