Supergood
Supergood is a brand for performances and products focussing on the market of cultural institutions and contemporary art. It was founded and run collaboratively in 2015 by Lukas Heistinger (CEO) and Bernhard Garnicnig (Director). Its foundation story begins in Brazil, where the two artists travelled for pre-production of a film project. But instead of returning with a movie project, they brought back the idea that a superfood bar and catering service is a better medium to work on their interests in a non-representational way. They chose Açaí, an amazonian superfood berry mousse as a central medium for its tasty synthesis of issues around globalisation and self-optimisation. The product allowed them to discuss critical-existential issues of living in the age of contradictory consciousness in a way that is life affirming and not bound to formal questions of fine art.
Through Supergood, the artists developed the methodology of “Conflicts of Interest”: a genuine interest in the constant non-dual articulation of the irresolvable conflicts as a prerequisite for grasping and enjoying our multidimensional existence.
(2015) Supergood: A Taste of Tropical Existentialism
A superfood catering performance was commissioned by the curators of the exhibition SOCIAL GLITCH at Kunstraum Niederösterreich, Wien. Supergood brand assets were strategically placed at the entrance to the exhibition to integrate with the presence of an institutional sponsor. For the exhibition opening, two performers served tasting cups of açai and striking up conversations with guests about the inherent conflicts of nutritional self-optimisation and the art worlds hypocritical attitudes towards globalisation.
Supergood: A Taste of Tropical Existentialism. Social Glitch, Curated by Gerald Nestler and Silvia Eckermann. Kunstraum Niederösterreich, Wien, 25. September - 5. Dezember 2015
(2015) Supergood: Concept Store
Supergood designed and operated a temporary superfood bar and concept store in an abandoned pharmacy for three months. The store was a functional superfood bar serving bowls of acai during the daytime. In the evenings, the bar became a location for performances whose sequence circumscribed the human body as the central subject of a capitalist dystopia. At night, the shutters were lowered and the bar became a speakeasy.
Central element of the store was a custom fabricated modular bar designed by Lukas Heistinger which served as a place to have a tasty argument in a bowl. All dimensions of the bar were customised. Nina Frankova fabricated custom ceramic bowls. A generative corporate soundscape installation composed by Benjamin Tomasi and Freya Edmondes installation shifted the acoustic ambience. A line of corporate uniforms designed by Anna Schwarz were displayed in the shop window.
DJ-sets, live concerts, binaural listening sessions, life coaching workshops, and performances were all wrapped into an increasingly contradictory and dissensful PR campaign that kept pushing an ever-expanding accumulation of attributes to Supergood’s products.
The shop kept filling up with recontextualized art objects setting the scene of a speculative franchise empire. As the late media theorist Armin Medosch put it, “Supergood connects different strands and influences of pop art, situationism, actionism, and artistic appropriation from the 1980ies and exemplifies how these have entered into the worlds of marketing and advertising to condition a state of Post-Art.”
List of Events
Body + Freedom for a better you. With Nils Amadeus Lange, Florentina Holzinger, Annina Machaz, Vincent Riebeek and Manuel Scheiwiller. 6.11.2015
Palais des Beaux Arts presents SANKE, presents Supercargo, presented by Supergood. With SANKE/Andreas Ervik. 13.11.2015
Existentialist tropicalia for a better you. With Rikarei. 18.11.2015
Nodding strategies and other business moves for a better you. 20.11.2015
The great avocado ecstasy for a better you. 24.11.2015
Music for airports, beaches and solariums for a better you. With Rikarei. 27.11.2015
A great vision for a better you. With Phelim McConigly. 2.12.2015
Binaural beats for a better you. With Bernhard Tobola. 3.12.2015
Intellectual detox for a better you. With LD Garnier. 4.12.2015
Theory U workshop for a better you. With Dietmar Kofler, Process Consultant at AEON Consulting Group. 7.12.2015
The apocalypse for a better you. With Peter Moosgaard and Lona Gaikis. 8.12.2015
Psychic surgery for a better you? With Josefin Arnell. 9.12.2015
Salvatore Viviano is Supergood. With Salvatore Vivano. 10.12.2015
Supergood press conference and Clinic of Essence Award ceremony. With Clinic of Essence. 11.12.2015
List of Objects/Artifacts/Installations/Collaborators
A BAR MADE FROM 4 MODULAR ELEMENTS. Designed and Fabricated by Lukas Heistinger. 1180 x 780 x 500mm. Aluminium, Nirosta/stainless steel
Nina Frankova for Supergood. 7 unique real China bowls, 15 spoon or fish shaped objects, it depends (organic clay)
A white lilly flower periodically refreshed by the nearby florist.
SANKE OF NORWAY. From the series „Paleo Spa“: „Healing Clay“, „Summer Romance“ the smell of earth after a summer rain), „Aged Nectar“ „Ocean Origins“
50 plastic stools from an importer in Greece from a manufacturer in China
Therapeutic Lamp by Beurer and Mediasana, 10.000 LUX
Generative Neuro Marketing Sound Engine for Supergood. Programmed by Ryo Ikeshiro, With sound by Benjamin Tomasi and Freya Edmondes.
TROPHY by Clinic of Essence.
ORGON SHOWER by Peter Moosgaard
pulse 1, 97% by Phelim McConigly, Oil on Canvas, 140x100cm
SUPERYOU Brand Performance Outfit. Sports Jacket, Organic Cotton Singlets. Designed by Anna Schwarz, Worn by Nour Shantout and
Supergood Corporate Identity by CHRISTOPH SCHÖRKHUBER. Tasty Bold Typeface by Hubert Jocham
SUPERGOOD BRAND VIDEOS. Directed by Lukas Heistinger. With Jim, Lilly, Tina, Rob and Charles.
Text Armin Medosch
Supergood Object Catalogue
Supergood Event Catalogue
(2016) One Work Gallery
“2 hours of relaxation and motivation music and nature for the free better you” is a 2 hour 12 minute HD video shot in the summer of 2016. It combines impressive nature footage with a custom soundtrack. It is designed as a relaxation video for online consumption. The soundtrack transitions between upbeat ukulele bliss and deconstructed pointilistic composition and is dotted with hushed voice overs of ambiguous meaning. For its premiere at One Work Gallery, Supergood performed the tropical existentialist Açaí catering service.
One Work Gallery (Salvatore Viviano), Wien. 2016
Premierentage 2016
Supergood was a corporate sponsor of Premierentage, a biannual festival of contemporary art institutions in Innsbruck. The sponsorship was performed in the printed matter and online platforms of the festival, and through a poster campaign in public space. For the closing event, supergood invited US rapper JUICEBOXXX for a performance alongside the tropical-existentialist catering service. During this evening of Post-Studio and Apres-Ski, the legendary Milwaukee rapper and Millenial Messias JUICEBOXXX repeated his 15 minute set into the night until total exhaustion.
Premierentage 2016, Innsbruck. Invited by Medien.Kunst.Tirol
(2018) Supergood: Diálogos com Ernesto de Sousa
MAAT Museu de Arte, Arquitetura e Tecnologia
PARTICIPATING ARTISTS: Melanie Bonajo, Rita Sobral Campos, Vasco Costa, Simon Dybbroe Møller, Jannis Varelas, Supergood with Ernesto de Sousa
The exhibition Supergood – Dialogues with Ernesto de Sousa is based on the transdisciplinary and transversal work by one of the most relevant figures in 20th-century Portuguese avant-garde. The exhibition attempted to review and update Ernesto de Sousa’s body of work, showing, side by side, artists from different generations and nationalities, as well as new perspectives on the political, cultural and ideological aspects which have shaped his career for more than two decades. This way, Ernesto de Sousa’s artistic and conceptual legacy was converted into a vast arena for experimentation, and a starting point for reflection on current artistic practices. Next to original works, the exhibition shows commissions in dialogue with a selection of works and documents from Ernesto de Sousa’s Archive.
For this exhibition, Supergood realized interventions and projects specific to the museum. In response to the commission, Supergood established to the museum the relation of a consultant, advising it in the practice of making an exhibition with the legacy of a socially conscious, revolutionary artist in the framework of a cultural institution in the corporate-cultural continuum.
The artwork unfolded across several platforms, formats and events: The exhibition title, the mediation program, the sponsoring surfaces, the gift shop, the opening event and a central interactive installation in the exhibition space.
In dialogue with the works of De Sousa and his interest in posters as an interface for poetic intimacy, Supergood occupied the public communication channels of the museum. Supergood posed as a sponsor and consultant of the museum, advising the institution in the delicate matter of exhibiting the legacy of a socially conscious, revolutionary artist in the framework of a cultural institution in the corporate-cultural continuum.
De Sousas idea that graphic arts – mechanically reproducible artworks such as posters that inherit certain divisions and alliances through labour – can act as a vehicle of intimacy, agitators of consciences and precursor to collective action, emerged during the ‘Estado Novo’ military regime reigning Portugal until 1974. Supergood translated this to the age of cognitive capitalism by re-interpreting several works from the Ernesto de Sousa archive and transcribing them into a co-branding campaign.
Supergood appeared in the title of the exhibition and populated the vast area of the museum through flags, roll up banners, and co-branding of staff uniforms. Branded baseball caps and sleeves were offered in the MAAT museum gift shop.
As a focus point, a selfie-wall at the entrance to the exhibition offered the visitors to literally pick up revolutionary slogans on a stick. These slogans were excerpts from the oeuvre of De Sousa or the branding handbook of Supergood. This campaign integrated with the contemporary art museums desire to create superficial engagement through a user-generated campaign that runs on the infrastructures of cognitive capitalism.
Supergood worked with the museum invigilators as a potential community. Invigilators at the MAAT were students temporarily employed through an internship programme. Their presence was heavily branded through staff uniforms, which we supplemented with the Supergood baseball cap. The hat became an occasion for conversations on the conditions of labour and community at MAAT, upon which we designed a guided tour in the form of a focus group questionnaire.
Supergood – Diálogos com Ernesto de Sousa at MAAT Museu de Arte, Arquitetura e Tecnologia Lisboa. With Melanie Bonajo, Rita Sobral Campos, Vasco Costa, Simon Dybbroe Møller, Jannis Varelas, Supergood com Ernesto de Sousa. Curated by Hugo Canoilas. 2018.
Text Scott Raby
A superfood catering performance was commissioned by the curators of the exhibition SOCIAL GLITCH at Kunstraum Niederösterreich, Wien. Supergood brand assets were strategically placed at the entrance to the exhibition to integrate with the presence of an institutional sponsor. For the exhibition opening, two performers served tasting cups of açai and striking up conversations with guests about the inherent conflicts of nutritional self-optimisation and the art worlds hypocritical attitudes towards globalisation.
Supergood: A Taste of Tropical Existentialism. Social Glitch, Curated by Gerald Nestler and Silvia Eckermann. Kunstraum Niederösterreich, Wien, 25. September - 5. Dezember 2015
(2015) Supergood: Concept Store
Supergood designed and operated a temporary superfood bar and concept store in an abandoned pharmacy for three months. The store was a functional superfood bar serving bowls of acai during the daytime. In the evenings, the bar became a location for performances whose sequence circumscribed the human body as the central subject of a capitalist dystopia. At night, the shutters were lowered and the bar became a speakeasy.
Central element of the store was a custom fabricated modular bar designed by Lukas Heistinger which served as a place to have a tasty argument in a bowl. All dimensions of the bar were customised. Nina Frankova fabricated custom ceramic bowls. A generative corporate soundscape installation composed by Benjamin Tomasi and Freya Edmondes installation shifted the acoustic ambience. A line of corporate uniforms designed by Anna Schwarz were displayed in the shop window.
DJ-sets, live concerts, binaural listening sessions, life coaching workshops, and performances were all wrapped into an increasingly contradictory and dissensful PR campaign that kept pushing an ever-expanding accumulation of attributes to Supergood’s products.
The shop kept filling up with recontextualized art objects setting the scene of a speculative franchise empire. As the late media theorist Armin Medosch put it, “Supergood connects different strands and influences of pop art, situationism, actionism, and artistic appropriation from the 1980ies and exemplifies how these have entered into the worlds of marketing and advertising to condition a state of Post-Art.”
List of Events
Body + Freedom for a better you. With Nils Amadeus Lange, Florentina Holzinger, Annina Machaz, Vincent Riebeek and Manuel Scheiwiller. 6.11.2015
Palais des Beaux Arts presents SANKE, presents Supercargo, presented by Supergood. With SANKE/Andreas Ervik. 13.11.2015
Existentialist tropicalia for a better you. With Rikarei. 18.11.2015
Nodding strategies and other business moves for a better you. 20.11.2015
The great avocado ecstasy for a better you. 24.11.2015
Music for airports, beaches and solariums for a better you. With Rikarei. 27.11.2015
A great vision for a better you. With Phelim McConigly. 2.12.2015
Binaural beats for a better you. With Bernhard Tobola. 3.12.2015
Intellectual detox for a better you. With LD Garnier. 4.12.2015
Theory U workshop for a better you. With Dietmar Kofler, Process Consultant at AEON Consulting Group. 7.12.2015
The apocalypse for a better you. With Peter Moosgaard and Lona Gaikis. 8.12.2015
Psychic surgery for a better you? With Josefin Arnell. 9.12.2015
Salvatore Viviano is Supergood. With Salvatore Vivano. 10.12.2015
Supergood press conference and Clinic of Essence Award ceremony. With Clinic of Essence. 11.12.2015
List of Objects/Artifacts/Installations/Collaborators
A BAR MADE FROM 4 MODULAR ELEMENTS. Designed and Fabricated by Lukas Heistinger. 1180 x 780 x 500mm. Aluminium, Nirosta/stainless steel
Nina Frankova for Supergood. 7 unique real China bowls, 15 spoon or fish shaped objects, it depends (organic clay)
A white lilly flower periodically refreshed by the nearby florist.
SANKE OF NORWAY. From the series „Paleo Spa“: „Healing Clay“, „Summer Romance“ the smell of earth after a summer rain), „Aged Nectar“ „Ocean Origins“
50 plastic stools from an importer in Greece from a manufacturer in China
Therapeutic Lamp by Beurer and Mediasana, 10.000 LUX
Generative Neuro Marketing Sound Engine for Supergood. Programmed by Ryo Ikeshiro, With sound by Benjamin Tomasi and Freya Edmondes.
TROPHY by Clinic of Essence.
ORGON SHOWER by Peter Moosgaard
pulse 1, 97% by Phelim McConigly, Oil on Canvas, 140x100cm
SUPERYOU Brand Performance Outfit. Sports Jacket, Organic Cotton Singlets. Designed by Anna Schwarz, Worn by Nour Shantout and
Supergood Corporate Identity by CHRISTOPH SCHÖRKHUBER. Tasty Bold Typeface by Hubert Jocham
SUPERGOOD BRAND VIDEOS. Directed by Lukas Heistinger. With Jim, Lilly, Tina, Rob and Charles.
Text Armin Medosch
Supergood Object Catalogue
Supergood Event Catalogue
(2016) One Work Gallery
“2 hours of relaxation and motivation music and nature for the free better you” is a 2 hour 12 minute HD video shot in the summer of 2016. It combines impressive nature footage with a custom soundtrack. It is designed as a relaxation video for online consumption. The soundtrack transitions between upbeat ukulele bliss and deconstructed pointilistic composition and is dotted with hushed voice overs of ambiguous meaning. For its premiere at One Work Gallery, Supergood performed the tropical existentialist Açaí catering service.
One Work Gallery (Salvatore Viviano), Wien. 2016
Premierentage 2016
Supergood was a corporate sponsor of Premierentage, a biannual festival of contemporary art institutions in Innsbruck. The sponsorship was performed in the printed matter and online platforms of the festival, and through a poster campaign in public space. For the closing event, supergood invited US rapper JUICEBOXXX for a performance alongside the tropical-existentialist catering service. During this evening of Post-Studio and Apres-Ski, the legendary Milwaukee rapper and Millenial Messias JUICEBOXXX repeated his 15 minute set into the night until total exhaustion.
Premierentage 2016, Innsbruck. Invited by Medien.Kunst.Tirol
(2018) Supergood: Diálogos com Ernesto de Sousa
MAAT Museu de Arte, Arquitetura e Tecnologia
PARTICIPATING ARTISTS: Melanie Bonajo, Rita Sobral Campos, Vasco Costa, Simon Dybbroe Møller, Jannis Varelas, Supergood with Ernesto de Sousa
The exhibition Supergood – Dialogues with Ernesto de Sousa is based on the transdisciplinary and transversal work by one of the most relevant figures in 20th-century Portuguese avant-garde. The exhibition attempted to review and update Ernesto de Sousa’s body of work, showing, side by side, artists from different generations and nationalities, as well as new perspectives on the political, cultural and ideological aspects which have shaped his career for more than two decades. This way, Ernesto de Sousa’s artistic and conceptual legacy was converted into a vast arena for experimentation, and a starting point for reflection on current artistic practices. Next to original works, the exhibition shows commissions in dialogue with a selection of works and documents from Ernesto de Sousa’s Archive.
For this exhibition, Supergood realized interventions and projects specific to the museum. In response to the commission, Supergood established to the museum the relation of a consultant, advising it in the practice of making an exhibition with the legacy of a socially conscious, revolutionary artist in the framework of a cultural institution in the corporate-cultural continuum.
The artwork unfolded across several platforms, formats and events: The exhibition title, the mediation program, the sponsoring surfaces, the gift shop, the opening event and a central interactive installation in the exhibition space.
In dialogue with the works of De Sousa and his interest in posters as an interface for poetic intimacy, Supergood occupied the public communication channels of the museum. Supergood posed as a sponsor and consultant of the museum, advising the institution in the delicate matter of exhibiting the legacy of a socially conscious, revolutionary artist in the framework of a cultural institution in the corporate-cultural continuum.
De Sousas idea that graphic arts – mechanically reproducible artworks such as posters that inherit certain divisions and alliances through labour – can act as a vehicle of intimacy, agitators of consciences and precursor to collective action, emerged during the ‘Estado Novo’ military regime reigning Portugal until 1974. Supergood translated this to the age of cognitive capitalism by re-interpreting several works from the Ernesto de Sousa archive and transcribing them into a co-branding campaign.
Supergood appeared in the title of the exhibition and populated the vast area of the museum through flags, roll up banners, and co-branding of staff uniforms. Branded baseball caps and sleeves were offered in the MAAT museum gift shop.
As a focus point, a selfie-wall at the entrance to the exhibition offered the visitors to literally pick up revolutionary slogans on a stick. These slogans were excerpts from the oeuvre of De Sousa or the branding handbook of Supergood. This campaign integrated with the contemporary art museums desire to create superficial engagement through a user-generated campaign that runs on the infrastructures of cognitive capitalism.
Supergood worked with the museum invigilators as a potential community. Invigilators at the MAAT were students temporarily employed through an internship programme. Their presence was heavily branded through staff uniforms, which we supplemented with the Supergood baseball cap. The hat became an occasion for conversations on the conditions of labour and community at MAAT, upon which we designed a guided tour in the form of a focus group questionnaire.
Supergood – Diálogos com Ernesto de Sousa at MAAT Museu de Arte, Arquitetura e Tecnologia Lisboa. With Melanie Bonajo, Rita Sobral Campos, Vasco Costa, Simon Dybbroe Møller, Jannis Varelas, Supergood com Ernesto de Sousa. Curated by Hugo Canoilas. 2018.
Text Scott Raby
