Berlin 2010
Size chicken: 19x13x11 cm
Size installation: 300 x 200 x 90 cm
Materials: porcelain, clear glaze.
Headless and prepackaged we find chickens at supermarket shelves. I am fascinated by the look of this naked, slightly erotic, polysterene wrapped “end product” and wondered if there is a way to reflect the absurdity of this mass-production of living beings.*1
I made a mould of a chicken bought at the supermarket Sainsbury ́s. Then I started a collaboration with the famous “Royal Porcelain Manufactury” (Königliche Porzellan Manufaktur). They are one of the oldest porcellain manufacturers in Europe and produced the tableware for Frederik the Great, at a time when porcelain was as valuable as gold.
With the use of their high quality porcelain I turned an ordinary mass-produced chicken into something highly treasured, reversing the value chain process in food production.
*1The price of a chicken is pushed down through short growing period from 39 to maximum 42 days, high density in poultry farms and price wars between supermarkets.