Endre Aalrust and Trygve Luktvasslimo

8–31 October 2004
Opening Friday 8 October

Signal is proud to present Divercité! Some things can be taken to the bank, a collaboration between Norwegian artists Endre Aalrust and Trygve Luktvasslimo.

The exhibition addresses questions such as can our choices as consumers lead to significant change? Is it possible to consume in a radical manner, and if so whose rules must you play by? The notion of the “pink pound” originated in the early 1990s when the advertising industry began to recognise the huge spending power of affluent groups who fell beyond the category of the nuclear family. In subtle ways advertising began to address groups, including gay consumers, and in turn indicated the conscious policies adopted by businesses to address these minority groups with significant spending power.

In Divercité! Some things can be taken to the bank developments in the aesthetics of gay friendly advertising are examined. What are the factors that create a uniform heterogeneous minority, and what happens when stereotypical identities are produced and reinforced through the benevolent marketing and self-conscious attitudes of business?

Through their work with the pink economy Aalrust and Luktvasslimo present scenarios that questions the market’s desire of a rational consumer and how the confusion connected to acting unpredictably can possibly make a new starting point for criticism.