Side event: Film "The Lightbulb Conspiracy" (original) (raw)

25 May - 18.30 - 19.30

DURI room

With an introduction by Cosima Dannoritzer, Director of the film, followed by a cocktail

A documentary about how our economic system which is based on consumerism and planned obsolescence is using up all the resources of our planet.

Synopsis:

Once upon a time..... products were made to last. Then, in the 1920s, a group of businessmen were struck by an insight: 'A product that refuses to wear out is a tragedy of business' (1928). Thus Planned Obsolescence was born, and shortly after, the first worldwide cartel was set up to reduce the life span of the incandescent light bulb, a symbol for innovation and bright new ideas, and the first official victim of Planned Obsolescence.

During the 1950s, with the birth of the consumer society, the concept took on a whole new meaning, as explained by flamboyant designer Brooks Stevens: 'Planned Obsolescence, the desire to own something a little newer, a little better, a little sooner than is necessary...'. The growth society flourished, everybody had everything, the waste was piling up (preferably outside Europe in illegal dumps in the Third World) - until consumers started rebelling...

Can the modern growth society survive without Planned Obsolescence?What happened to the new ladder-proof nylon stockings in the 1940s? How does product 'death-dating' work? How did two artists from New York manage to extend the life span of millions of iPods?

The result of three years of painstaking research, 'The Light Bulb Conspiracy' travels to the US, Germany, France, Spain and Ghana, and uses rare archive material and hitherto unseen internal company documents to separate fact from urban legend. It also presents a number of hands-on ideas from thinkers, philosophers and businessmen who are working on saving the modern economy and the planet.