'Supermarket': didactic experiments in a critical realist method

Extrapolating from the interim findings of Fowler’s doctoral research, ‘Supermarket’ presents a historical materialist conception of social forces and relations. Through the creation of a Brechtian simulacrum of the conventional supermarket, Fowler underwrites a collection of representations which explore the interface between revolutionary socialist politics and artistic production. Applying Gramsci’s ‘inventory of traces’ and Brecht’s estrangement techniques as means to reject and reform the simplifications of liberal orthodoxy, ‘Supermarket’ seeks to shift the framework of discussion from merely formal analysis of artistic technique, to one which grounds cultural expressions in particular social formations