The Consumption of Rituals
Won the Silver Laus Award (2021)
How consumerism turned rituals to ashes
Rituals are actions which act as guides for society to process particular feelings, festivities and moments. They exist in our everyday life, as a way of helping us make sense of the world. Legitimised in different ways; when plenty are born out of religious beliefs, others from family traditions, cultural significance and historical respect.
Traditions and rituals are part of our cultural heritage, shaping communities and giving a sense of belonging to each society in our fragmented world.
The new medium of exchange mainly broke our traditions apart and reshaped the way we behave in communities. We shifted our focus onto working, producing and consuming more.
The act of consumption replaced the true essence of religion and faith and made rituals an increasingly individual act, becoming removed from the community and more focused on capitalist values. It discusses how consumerism is a powerful ritual “machine” that makes up for the modern world’s lack of ethics with new rituals and symbols.
With the rise of capitalism, advertising communicates the needs lacking fulfilment to feel complete or happy. It’s a different type of comfort. Advertising redefined our traditions and therefore appropriated in capitalism’s visions.
The book is looking towards the future, questioning how future forms will evolve in our nowaday digital world.
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