Mallification (2017)

Set-up as a two-year research project by the Bureau of Cultural Analysis, Mallification traces the material and digital developments of the shopping mall. The project kicked off on 5 October 2017 at Het Nieuwe Instituut in Rotterdam with a panel talk with Mark Pimlott, Natascha Meuser and Gesina Roters. The evening was coupled with a small exhibition with work from Harun Farocki, Thomas Nolf and Jaap Bakema, that ran from 3 – 15 October 2017.

In Mallification, the Bureau of Cultural Analysis maps how shopping malls evolve into immersive, hybrid environments—half retail, half spectacle. My photograph at Maasmechelen Village echo this shift. I documented a section of the outlet village that barely feels like a shopping street at all: thick with tropical plants, lush greenery, and curated nature that gives the impression of being in a manicured jungle rather than a commercial space. The façades fade behind layers of vegetation. This constructed wildness is part of a broader trend where retail spaces adopt non-commercial aesthetics—forest trails, historic villages, art galleries—to disarm the visitor, obscure the transaction, and transform consumption into experience.