Consumer Futures

Sunday, October 5th, 2008 | Consumer Futures | No Comments

As I hope is strongly conveyed elsewhere in this ‘case study’ section of co-pilot, the artists who were commissioned in spring 2008 to work with groups of Older People as part of The Not Quite Yet, share a drive to engage people with their creativity - in order to draw attention to perceived injustices, or positive potentialities in the social fabric - and through doing so, perhaps take us all a step closer to addressing or embracing these. With this in mind, it doesn’t feel inappropriate to consider some points of reference from outside the world of contemporary arts (which can often feel hermetically sealed to the wider public)  that caught my attention over the period that I was hearing about the results of these unique, multi-generational collaborations.

On 6 Jan 2008 a headline in the UK’s Observer newspaper ran: “Digital World Creates a new underclass: modern shopping and banking frustrate those who can’t log on or want to speak face to face.” The piece picked up on ‘Consumer Futures’ on a new report by the National Consumer Council (NCC) which highlighted the growing divide between those who have the resources and skills to play the market and those – largely the elderly and poor – who are increasingly being left behind. › Continue reading

Tags: Anne Miller, artist, artists, commissions, Consumer Futures, David Egerton, Myth of the Mousetrap, Observer, older people, participation, technology, The Not Quite Yet