Museums are jam-packed with massive queues and people running frenetically not to miss their allocated time slot. Big institutions must be given credit for making contemporary art available to the masses, and that´s obviously very important, but regrettably, at the same time, the individual experience has been heavily compromised—except for the museum shop, which amalgamates past, present and future with merchandising providing a platform for fridge magnets, coffee mugs, puzzles, cushions, etc. The museum shop merchandise draws on the symbiotic relationship between high art and commerce, exploring the »un-reality« where art becomes fashionable and this fashion excessively cheap. Fridge magnets with Vincent van Gogh´s Sunflowers for 5 GBP; T-Shirts, tattoo templates and even toilet paper with the same motif for 3 GBP. The quaint old notion of the museum as a haven for the contemplation of the art it owns has given way to the museum as a cog in the exhibition-industrial complex of shopping malls. By embracing digital innovations and state-of-the-art marketing strategies, museums have finally embedded themselves in the mass culture machine as well–to put on an endless list of exhibitions, to satisfy show-addicted visitors, tourists, critics, sponsors, trustees, politicians. The rhythms of production, distribution, and consumption are now key, not the things in themselves, that characterizes our cultural moment at the beginning of this new millenium. And if the show is sold out, please apply for tickets online a minimum of several weeks in advance !!!

Peter Vahlefeld | Shopping at the National Gallery | London
Peter Vahlefeld | Shopping at the National Gallery | London
Peter Vahlefeld | Shopping at the National Gallery | London
Peter Vahlefeld | Shopping at the National Gallery | London
Peter Vahlefeld | Shopping at the National Gallery | London
Peter Vahlefeld | Shopping at the National Gallery | London
Peter Vahlefeld | Shopping at the National Gallery | London
Peter Vahlefeld | Shopping at the National Gallery | London
Peter Vahlefeld | Shopping at the National Gallery | London
Peter Vahlefeld | Shopping at the National Gallery | London
Peter Vahlefeld | Shopping at the National Gallery | London
Peter Vahlefeld | Shopping at the National Gallery | London
Peter Vahlefeld | Shopping at the National Gallery | London
Peter Vahlefeld | Shopping at the National Gallery | London
Peter Vahlefeld | Shopping at the National Gallery | London
Peter Vahlefeld | Shopping at the National Gallery | London
Peter Vahlefeld | Shopping at the National Gallery | London
Peter Vahlefeld | Shopping at the National Gallery | London
Peter Vahlefeld | Shopping at the National Gallery | London
Peter Vahlefeld | Shopping at the National Gallery | London
Peter Vahlefeld | Shopping at the National Gallery | London
Peter Vahlefeld | Shopping at the National Gallery | London