ISSUE Nº 6 — To consume/To waste

\ISSUE Nº 6 — To consume/To wasteDecember 2024/January 2025. The ICONOMIST Issue 6 presents itself as a visual and textual essay examining the scars of a society sickened by late capitalism. Inspired by the seminal texts Junkspace by Rem Koolhaas and Infraordinary by Georges Perec, this edition not only observes but dissects neglected spaces, accumulated waste, and the traces of a world collapsing under the weight of its own excesses. On the cover, a clown mask closes the edition with a tragic smile, exposing the grotesque nature of humanity in a world saturated with paradoxes. On the back cover, a wig—symbolizing vanity and theatricality—introduces a universe of simulacra and disguises that will be unveiled throughout the pages. Through a curated selection of images oscillating between the documentary and the interpretative, readers are led through scenarios ranging from the dazzling and hyper-artificial universe of fast food, or “junk food,” to landfills and waste dumps, where the shine of consumption is replaced by neglect. Abandoned commercial spaces and vacant lots emerge as silent symbols of the failure of an infinite progress promise. The pages also portray human vulnerability: houses destroyed by natural disasters, waste pickers scavenging for what remains, and devastated landscapes that denounce systemic indifference to the environment and marginalized populations. Among the selected texts, authors such as Anna Lowenhaupt Tsing, Jean-Paul Fargier, Stanley Brouwn, Byung-Chul Han, Walter de Maria, Siri Hustvedt and others, help build the conceptual framework of this edition. In the interplay of combinations proposed by the edition, the concept of “still life” is subverted. Here, it is not about representing the silent order of inanimate objects but revealing urban chaos and the desacralization of the everyday. It is a still life that lives—and decays—in territories contaminated by ambition, inequality, and neglect. This edition is a call to see what is invisible or too uncomfortable to be noticed. It is a portrait not only of a world in decline but of a civilization that insists on ignoring the signs of collapse while indulging in excess—even of images.

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