After Dreaming

(Commissioned by Goethe-Institut)

The photo series critically examines the electrical waste which is generated in South Korea. The country is known worldwide for its cutting-edge technology that is an essential part of every Korean and thus also of people’s lives in South Korea. However, entertainment and household devices lose their values at a breakneck speed. South Korea is thus also a country in which electronic devices such as computers, monitors and mobile phones are consumed at the same speed. Consumers dispose often only a few years old equipment in order to replace them with the latest models.

But what happens to these devices when they are no longer needed by their owners? If they are not sold, they are thrown away. Often the devices are then exported abroad or disposed after precious metals such as gold and lithium were taken out. The series follows the path of these discarded electronic devices, indicating the often unseen consequences of today’s consumer society on – a phenomenon that affects not only South Korea, but all industrialized and emerging countries.