In the current times of financial instability and uncertainty about the future, we are all starting to recognize the toll consumer values are taking on our emotional health. So we decided to initiate an ongoing project that tackles those issues. That's how the idea of the Affluenza exhibition came about. We wanted to create a democratic platform for an open debate and possible solutions through artwork, performance, talks and discussions. Hopefully, we'll manage to engage those of you who think with the left, and those of you who think with the right side of your brain. And luckily Oliver James and the guys at the Samaritans agreed to be a part of it.

Welcome to the Affluenza Project.


What is Affluenza?

• Painful, contagious, socially transmitted condition of overload, debt, anxiety and waste resulting from the dogged pursuit of more.

• Placing a high value on money, possessions, appearances (physical and social) and fame, a failure to distinguish between what we need and what we want.

What is the Affluenza Exhibition?

The Afluenza Exhibition is a multi-disciplinary visual arts exhibition and series of talks and events taking place in Clerkenwell, London 19th – 28th March 2009.

Together with the Samaritans, we are organizing for groups of teenagers to discuss the artwork and the impact of consumer values on their own lives.

Talks by prominent thinkers and artists, suggesting some constructive alternatives for the future are going to take place each evening in the duration of the show. We have the psychologist and author Oliver James, Sam Thompson from the New Economics Foundation, writer and journalist Neil Boorman and Jim Segers from Citymine(d). (read less)

In the current times of financial instability and uncertainty about the future, we are all starting to recognize the toll consumer values are taking on our emotional health. So we decided to initiate an ongoing project that tackles those issues. That's how the idea of the Affluenza exhibition came about. We wanted to create a democratic platform for an open debate and possible solutions through artwork, performance, talks and discussions. Hopefully, we'll manage to engage those of you who think... (read more)