Project 401K
This project explores the relationship between capitalism and nature.
Highlighting how human control and economic interests have led to environmental degradation and climate change. It reflects on the way nature, increasingly diminished by these forces, is transformed into a commodity—reduced to digital representations and exclusive promises as its physical reality becomes scarce.
In these times of ecological crisis, capitalism remains fixated on profit, exploiting our natural resources without regard for their depletion. Rather than alarm, society has been lulled into complacency by work routines and media narratives that mask the urgency of the problem.
In a future where nature becomes scarce, capitalism will invent new ways to profit, promising a better future or retirement plan to a privileged few. These promises might even include exclusive access to the last remaining natural spaces, turning nature itself into a luxury.
What would we have left? The idea of Nature - a render.
A RENDER
For us, busy city workers, nature becomes a relief to our mental pressure, the space we can escape after a stressful week, or the coping mechanism during a working day when we research for our next holidays.
But as nature dwindles and privatization continues, this escape may be used as a productivity tool—a dream sold to us in exchange for hard work. “Project 401K” envisions a world where nature is reduced to idyllic images, plastered on the Cover page of your retirement plan or sold as investment opportunities. When nature becomes inaccessible, our closest connection to it might be through idealized, computer-generated images—a distant prize to gain through capitalistic productivity.
Juls Gabs
This piece represents my personal pension plan. A year ago, my wife urged me to start planning for retirement. As an artist, I had never seriously considered this, believing that the artworks I create now will be worth more when I reach my 60s. To me, it made more sense to reinvest my earnings back into my art practice, refining my ideas and materials. But she persisted, so I promised to give it some thought—and that’s how *Project 401K* was born.
*Project 401K* is a walkable digital painting and installation designed to be exhibited throughout my career, but it cannot be sold until I turn 65. By then, the goal is for the piece’s value and reputation to reach $1 million. The race starts today.
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