Word: consumeristic
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...change, we're not just talking about rising temperatures or altered landscapes. We're talking about the end of human civilization as we know it. That's what all those PowerPoint slides in An Inconvenient Truth add up to. That's the truth - that through our day-to-day consumerist lives, we may be creating the conditions for our own end. So, as you can see, it's not the most life-affirming reporting beat out there...
...interest in cultural fare (book sales are shrinking along with art-house film audiences) point to a brutal 1980 military coup as the start of this malaise. The generals ushered in an era of economic liberalization and anything-goes cowboy capitalism that rapidly transformed the country into a consumerist McHeaven. Turgut Ozal, who served as Prime Minister from 1983 to 1989 and as President from 1989 to 1993, famously declared that his dream was for Turkey to become "a little America." And he wasn't talking about liberty. Today, Turkey is home to Europe's youngest population...
...Jorge Luis Borges to Franz Kafka, Millhauser often remains strongly—even disappointingly—anchored in American soil. The second chapter, “Impossible Architectures,” features “The Dome,” an unmistakable dystopian portrayal of today’s consumerist society. In a narrative closely resembling historical essay, the story details the evolution of a large, transparent, protective dome, first over wealthy residences, then over middle-class suburbia, and finally over the entire country—a haunting extension of the shopping mall. “The Other Town?...
...subtle critiques of official corruption or urban alienation fill Beijing and Shanghai galleries. Some artists, particularly those who grew up during the Cultural Revolution, playfully twist that era's socialist-realist propaganda art - think heroic laborers, red-cheeked peasants and stalwart soldiers lifting banners with brand names or consumerist messages. Best known among these political popsters is Wang Guangyi, whose painting of Mao behind bars sold for $4 million last month...
...Some Asian artists blame the consumerist hype on foreign collectors who impose their tastes - and dollars - on locals. "The foreigners already have an idea of what they expect from Chinese art, and they are more interested in works that have obvious Chinese symbols," says Shanghai artist Ding Yi, whose Mondrian-inspired geometries hardly betray his nationality. "It's very seductive," acknowledges Li Liang, the owner of Eastlink Gallery in Shanghai. "You know that if you put things up that look Chinese, they will sell well." But others worry that this impulse will only encourage soulless facsimiles with little cultural resonance...