Backordered

Everyone wants what they can’t have – the love interest who ghosts them, the painting that’s already sold, a return to a time when their inbox was manageable – but Americans, in particular, are mostly used to getting what they want when they want it. Take toilet paper, for example.

The pandemic changed all that, and its lasting effects have triggered a new far-reaching problem that’s put a damper on consumer instant gratification. Disruptions in the global supply chain have exposed the fragility of this complex system. Covid related factory shut-downs abroad, a shortage of truck drivers and increased spending on goods, as opposed to experiences and travel, have contributed to bottlenecks at our ports. Container ships and containers themselves have been crippled or rendered useless. Of course, there are many factors that have led to the recent slow-down in international commerce, but among them, the American desire to consume – whether through e-commerce or brick and mortar retail shops – has been the predominant driving force behind a backlog of STUFF that Americans want.

While the artists in the exhibition do not intentionally address the supply chain specifically, they have been selected because their work examines consumption in all its forms or references a network of linked logistical elements that serve as a metaphor for the supply chain.