Mall as Theatre
2019
Ann Arbor, MI

Critic: Eduardo Merido

Featured in Taubman College’s Student Show 2020

“The American pursuit of profits had ruined the promise of the shopping center, these buildings are a gigantic shopping machine.” While engagement with shops and brands have changed, the American relationship to consumerism has not, rather it has increased. The need for immaterial and intangible goods grows as more consumable products rely on the experience with the product, rather than the product itself. In the post-consumerist age, the tangible shopping experience is no longer necessary for the consumption of tangible goods and stores are no longer about the product but the theatre brought to the consumer. Customer service has always been an essential act of the consumer experience but the brand experience has never been under such demand to perform, not in an informative manner, but rather provide an interaction with the consumer.

THEATRE AS MALL replaces the standard model of a retail experience with a model that encourages the engagement of the tangible shopping interactive experience for the pleasure of experience rather than the necessity of consuming products. In this way, Malls can once again not just be the beacon of American culture it once was, but rather a new improved model that grabs the consumer and never allows them too truly leave the walls of the shopping center by creating a confusing labyrinth of brand experiences, neon lights, and an unending desire for more.