For the Future


Are they long past sell-by date? The answer seems to be staring us in the face...

In the past, food was almost entirely produced locally and food waste was almost a non-existing problem. Clothes, furniture etc. were more often repaired - recycling was more common since people were poorer. Today, some valuable skills that previously seemed outdated, such as making thatched roofs (mostly in Northern Europe and Asia), are appreciated, not least from an environmental point of view.

Recognizing that food production and transportation are major sources of air pollution today, the situation turns even more insane... A FAO report from 2011 holds that the total food waste by consumers in the industrialized countries was 222 million tons... Grocery stores in these countries often dump huge amounts of food waste every day... According to a NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council) report from 2012, Americans threw away around 40 percent of the food... Evidently, they are by no means alone.

In 2012, the European Parliament adopted a resolution to reduce food waste by 50 percent by 2020 and designated 2014 as the "European year against food waste." Hoping for the best seems futile, facing an avoidable, large-scale problem...


A triple bottom line solution may be needed in several countries, requiring collaborative efforts by businesses, governments and consumers. An extensive U.K. public awareness campaign has been conducted over the past five years. 53 of the leading food retailers/brands have adopted a resolution to reduce their waste, upstream and downstream in the supply chain. In five years, household food waste in the United Kingdom has been reduced by 18 percent. Results..!



Frames of Reference

2012-12-21: A day without premonitions. 9.42 p.m.: Vertigo, falling backwards, concussion. Unconsciousness and haemorrhage.

Intermission beyond the concrete. NDE/REVA. A soothing dreamscape, discerning glimpses of a remote reality. An intense intruder breaching the protection, the refuge...

Unobtrusive voices from discreet phantoms surrounding the object. Reduced to a number. Clinical tests in sterile, white light. A dance macabre, echoing boundlessly in all extremities.

Left alone in a dissociated state. Alienation from the situation; looking at himself from the outside - seeing a character in a work of art or a work in progress...


4+°C




If this photograph had one, single keyword, it would be denial. The 4°C (39.2°F) scenarios, emphasized by an increasing number of scientists, are devastating. To quote a World Bank report from 2012, these scenarios will imply: "...the inundation of coastal cities; increasing risks for food production potentially leading to higher malnutrition rates; dry regions becoming dryer, wet regions wetter; unprecedented heat waves in many regions, especially in the tropics; substantially exacerbated water scarcity in many regions; increased frequency of high-intensity tropical cyclones; and irreversible loss of biodiversity..." Time for action or inaction..?   

4+°C is one of 14 artworks in the multimedia exhibition Carbon Footprints - with art by Unda Arte and music by Armand Gutheim - shown in Coimbra, Portugal, February 2013. The main theme concerns the environment and our lifestyle, explicitly and implicitly...   



The Leisure Pool



Except problematizing what many industries/companies adventurously leave behind.., The Leisure Pool also poses questions about the future aesthetics of photography in this domain... Thus, the role of the artist/photographer may become more ambiguous. 

This photograph is one of 14 artworks in the multimedia exhibition Carbon Footprints - with art by Unda Arte and music by Armand Gutheim - shown in Coimbra, Portugal, February 2013. The overall theme concerns the environment and our lifestyle, explicitly and implicitly...