Shopping malls have become a familiar feature of contemporary life, an almost unavoidable element of the consumer experience. This analytical documentary reveals how these spaces are imagined and constructed to encourage consumption. Filmed discussions between designers and investors planning a large shopping mall in Münster, Germany, expose how a seemingly pleasurable atmosphere is carefully engineered through the management of customer flows, surveillance technology and marketing strategies. Farocki reveals how the apparent self-evidence and spontaneity of shopping result from an intricate process of calculation and design, exposing the meticulously constructed nature of contemporary consumer culture.
"The tragic message of the film lies precisely in the substantive interference of biased interests in urban planning, and the impact such shopping centres have on the social and economic minutiae of cities. It becomes clear that even politics are shaped by these decisions to concede a city’s cultural fabric and complexities to the power of investors."
Andres Lepik / Architecture Foundation
"The mall planners and bread-display architects seen at work in Harun Farocki’s exhaustive doc take on the sinister air of a worldwide conspiracy."
Jessica Winter / Village Voice
