BRIEF
Alcohol provides enjoyment and social bonding for many, yet simultaneously leading to numerous negative effects - including health problems, addiction, and social issues. Alcohol has been an integral part of society for centuries and are imprinted in our culture, making it hard to see the issue and predict its future role.
What does the future of alcohol look like? Climate change may have given us different conditions and society might view intoxication differently. We examined the history and future of alcohol through six retirees and then interpreted the future with a group of young people.
At the beginning of our project, we investigated how young people drink and how their relationship with alcohol changes. Even there, one could interpret that it is the young who construct the public. Much advertising is directed at young people, but it is among the young that alcohol consumption is decreasing. We ultimately decided to work with the seniors to weave together their experiences with alcohol.
Young people's drinking has decreased, while the elderly's has increased. By giving the both groups an alternative activity where alcohol is still present but not consumed as a beverage, we wanted to explore how important alcohol was in the context.
One observation was that older people do not need alcohol in the same way that young people use it. As a young person, you depend on your friends and to belong to a group in a way that I believe is not the same as when you get older. You do not adapt in the same way as you do when you are younger. Something that became clear was that the elderly cannot be influenced in the same way as the younger.
In our exhibition where we exhibited the thoughts and paintings of the older target group, we invited the younger target group to take part in their thoughts as well.