Aldi

I've joined a band and we're playing at Visual Bulk in Hobart this Saturday...

Aldi was founded by brothers Karl and Theo Albrecht in 1946 when they took over their mother’s store in Essen, Germany. Deeply influenced by family friend Walter Benjamin’s experience of the Parisan arcade, Aldi rose to success through a policy of experimentation and continuous revision of its product choices.

In 1960 a rift between the two brothers over the sale of cigarettes brought about a split in the Aldi enterprise and its separation into the the Aldi Nord and Aldi Süd. In doing so, further dividing West Germany along cultural lines in what came to be known unofficially as the Aldi-äquator.

Now years later Aldi fans Hayden Stuart and Robert Domanski joined by avid shopper Jennifer Rooke hope to heal this rupture with a view to using this exaggerated feud as a space in which to imagine a 1) chain of artworks and unpopular pop songs and 2) present a musical stocktake and an audit of their practices.