Boudewien van den Berg

Department: Man and Leisure
Website: www.boudewienvandenberg.nl

My Interpretation of a Generation

Our generation places great demands upon itself — a striving for perfection is widely observable. But is that actually typical of our time? Boudewien van den Berg observed that, whilst the competitive spirit is an intrinsic part of being human, a new situation has resulted from the fact that, due to modern communications, we are now in contact with a greater number of people with whom to compare ourselves. Further, notions of how our lives can be ‘designed’ also raise the bar extra-high. The illusion of perfection is easy to create, but designable does not necessarily mean real. In My Interpretation of a Generation, Van de Berg recorded her fellow students’ take on their own generation by photoshopping their faces until their proportions were ‘perfect’, thus enabling them to contribute to the zeitgeist without doing anything!