Disgusting Greed, 2024.


In this current stage of capitalism —financialised capitalism—, the obsession with constant economic growth has led to the commodification of all aspects of life. Even one of the most basic needs for human subsistence, such as food, is turned into an object of financial speculation.

Since the 1960s, transnational intermediary companies that connect food producers with food manufacturers and distributors have turned their investors and executives into billionaires through speculative economic practices. One such practice is to purchase large quantities of raw materials, such as grain, and withhold them without selling them to manufacturers, thus creating artificial shortages in the market and driving up commodity and food prices.

Other factors driving up food prices include instability in producing territories due to armed conflicts and changes in climatic conditions leading to lower production. These circumstances led to a sustained increase in food prices from 2022 to 2024, marking a period of prolonged inflation.
In Spain, food distribution companies took advantage of this inflationary situation to inflate the prices of their products far beyond their usual profit margins. While the purchasing power of millions of consumers declined and they were forced to forego essential foodstuffs because of their high prices, the food distributors made record profits.

The work ‘Disgusting Greed’ takes the form of three piles of the main cereal grains —maize, wheat and rice— that form the basis of diets, especially in the poorest regions of the developing world. The seeds were painted and varnished to simulate gold nuggets. With this work, the artist invites us to think about how our economic system prioritises profit over even human subsistence, and how the unbridled greed of the few condemns millions of people to food shortages.

This text has been automatically translated by the Deepl app. Due to the nuances of automatic translation, there may be slight differences.