# 20
The entanglement of waste and social rank
The word “Abfall” in German means “refuse” or “waste” (garbage, rubbish), or, literally, “that which has fallen down.”
Does everything that touches the ground automatically become unwanted and turn into waste?
The semiotics of waste seem to be deeply rooted in a dynamic of verticality—in the downward movement of things. It is therefore hardly surprising that class and cultural politics are structured in a similar way, along the spectrum of above and below.
Dall’Introduzione alla mostra The Gleaners, Krone Couronne, 2023Invitations to contemplate these words and play with your thoughts
What if we tell a different history
What if we tell a different history
What if we start cherishing the ground instead of looking up to see what rises to the sky. We wonder whether any historian ever studied the origins of the bad reputation of everything that is down here and the praise of everything that is up there. Not only is it contradictory to our survival as our nourishment depends on fertile soil, not on a fertile sky. So maybe it is time to tell a history that seeks to give those who are here on the ground their rightful meaning.
