EXHIBITION / AUSSTELLUNG 10.10.2008 – 26.02.2009 Galerie im Saalbau 01.05.2009 – 31.12.2009 HermannQuartier A product’s manufacture is not normally a visible process. The consumer largely receives information about the product itself. They might be interested in whether the product is organic, contains sugar, or is fair trade. But in general, the working conditions of the people who manufacture the product won’t influence their choice. Following the advent of industrialisation, country craftsmen and labourers joined together to form cooperatives, as a response to increasingly sub-standard working conditions and rising unemployment. Today, it is mainly urbanites that have been forced out of the manufacturing process. The parallels between past working conditions and those of today’s migrant workers are growing ever more pronounced. This provides us with a good opportunity to examine alternatives to existing manufacturing options, and consider the co-operative movement. Private companies and neo-liberals often attack European cooperatives, because they compete in the same market. The latter, it seems, would prefer to compete with underfinanced, self-employed individuals, than with cooperatives. LE GRAND MAGASIN is the title of an exhibition and department store opening in October 2008. The exhibition will display and sell exclusively non-comestibles from European workers’ cooperatives. It will provide a forum and raise consciousness about products promoting solidarity and alternative types of doing business and manufacturing. Galerie im Saalbau Karl-Marx-Straße 141 12043 Berlin U7 Karl-Marx-Straße Opening Hours: Tue–Sun 10–20 / Öffnungszeiten: Di–So 10–20 HermannQuartier Hermannstraße 138A 10251 Berlin S 41, 42, 43, U8 Hermannstraße Opening Hours: Tue–Sat 11–20 / Öffnungszeiten: Di–Sa 11–20