Food waste is a complex problem that does not exist separate from other issues in our society. In the United States 38% of the food produced was wasted in 2022. Your Beauty Standards are Rubbish seeks to raise awareness of one aspect of food waste—its appearance and the desire for physically attractive food. This is tied into a larger issue of how beauty is often one lens through which value is assigned to a product (or person, or place, etc.). It benefits capitalism for the standards of beauty to forever shift and remain unattainable so that we continue to buy new products and throw out what is no longer fresh.
Some food waste occurs because products do not live up to cosmetic standards of the industry. An ugly vegetable may never even make it off the farm. But even "ugly" food has nutrients and value. So maybe we need to rethink our desire for beautiful things. Or expand what is considered "beautiful".
YOUR BEAUTY STANDARDS ARE RUBBISH
Your Beauty Standards Are Rubbish was made as part of Tetrap-Act, an artistic response to the ongoing problem of food waste conceived of and organized by Community Kitchen Munich and Waldmeister Design in the summer of 2024.
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Tetrapak, paint, acrylic glass and recycled pallets
200 cm x 360 cm x 120 cm​
Photos (save picture of interior) by Hauke Seyfarth