netartdothu (beta)

Internet art and Internet culture in Hungary in the 1990s and 2000s. A research project by Flóra Barkóczi

Szilvia Seres: Culture As Commodity, 1996

Szilvia Seres’s ‘Culture as Commodity’ (A kultúra áru) is a 1996 web adaptation of a 1995 video work critiquing the commodification of culture in 1990s Hungary’s emerging market economy. Visitors interact with portraits of over 60 individuals arranged in a grid; clicking a portrait triggers the person to complete the phrase “Culture is a commodity…” with banal statements like “this is obvious” or “this is fundamental.” The repetitive responses parody consumer capitalism’s oversimplifications while ironically critiquing the commodification of both culture and art. Combining humor, interactivity, and collaboration, Seres turns a critical lens on capitalism and its impact on artistic values.