The heirs of Scrooge Mc Duck
1997 – Gallery Volksbank, Merano
Everything shines.
The place tells its one story. What is happiness? Wealth is happiness? Fairy tales promise it.
Who does not know him, Scrooge Mc Duck the epitome of the accumulation of money and symbol of richness who nevertheless doesn’t reach the target of happiness and satisfaction?
Despite better knowing, or maybe even not, we all succumb to the temptation of fame and money or are forced to increase our material goods.
The exhibition tells from the dreams of unreason and the supposed happiness we hope to find by increase wealth and prosperity. Are we part of a system that measures the value of our existence and that of the people on the number of zeros in the wallet, or are we covered already by the fairy tales of our childhood which inform us that money makes happy? – “And all the unhappiness is over” … How much suffering in the world is currently connected to this idea?
The beautiful appearance of reality embodied by money; the only tangible means of fulfilling our dreams is deceptive. Although the owner prevails himself in security but he depends on his property, his money, his prestige, his ego. In fact, there is nothing one has and can’t lose. Perhaps we should focus our life on simply being. While that what we have decreases by use, does the simply being increase by practice. We don’t lose what we give but on the contrary, we lose what we hold. And isn’t it through that we admire characters like Scrooge Mc Duck but we can’ love them. That’s the privilege of Donald, the poor wretch, with his vastly human shortcomings.
Despite everything, we feel good when we climb the ladder of success, listen intently to the story of the euro associated with increased standard of living and when is told about the improvement of life. And we run and rave, go and make noise, call and perform… and lose. How easy is it get between the wheels lose yourself, because we have forgotten how to pay attention to the inner values of people. Almost this all seems to me as if we found ourselves in times of war, when Mother Courage recognized it as her actual breadwinner, even if she didn’t want anything else than survive with her children. And when she loses her children because of the war and wouldn’t change anything because business is all, forgotten the reason why she did it and at the end she has to move her car alone… untaught by the events and unteachable…
And the difference today?