Shop windows are the business cards of consumerism, promising luxury and prosperity behind glass. They celebrate the beautiful surface of things and stage a seemingly flawless world. In his haunting photographic documentation, artist Timo Schuster explores the fascination of these displays as a mirror of society.
With an almost ethnological perspective, his camera dissects the opulent shop displays of fashion and accessories. The intense color saturation of his photographs gives the objects an almost sacred aura. Yet behind the glittering façade lurks emptiness. What shimmers alluringly at first glance turns out to be a cold staging on closer inspection.
It is in this contrast between supposed splendor and actual frigidity that the particular quality of Schuster’s works lies. His photographs confront us with the fundamental contradiction of consumer culture: the promise of luxury on the one hand and the alienation of human beings on the other. The arrangements in the shop windows seem like representatives of a perfect world that exists only behind the glass.
With his typical laconic visual language, Schuster dissects the mechanisms of desire and purchase. His art exposes the mendacity that lurks behind the façade. The photographer thus makes a valuable contribution to reflecting on our society, which is characterized by consumerism and competition. His works are visual food for thought, prompting us to look more closely.