Consumption

It is a multi-faceted theme that is rich with creative potential. We are all consumers. We have invented new forms of building, industrial production, farming and energy; we have emptied the seas and ravaged the land in our relentless drive to satisfy our unquenchable desires. We have built vast empires based on luxury goods, creating demand for essentials that we didn’t know we needed. We have sustained this through the sometimes thoughtless exploitation of the world’s poorest people.

The Shortlist of eleven artists selected for the fifth cycle of the Prix Pictet, was announced at the Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville in Paris on 13 November 2013. The winner was announced on 21 May 2014 at the opening of an exhibition of works by the shortlisted artists at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. German photographer Michael Schmidt was named as the fifth laureate of the Prix Pictet for his series Lebensmittel by honorary president, Kofi Annan. Three days after the announcement was made Michael Schmidt sadly passed away aged 68.