René’s Collapse Collection: Take Over

‘René’s Collapse Collection’ is a fictional startup and alternative investment platform that explores the cultural, economic, and emotional afterlife of the collapse of René Benko’s SIGNA empire. Through NFTs, merchandise, video works, and performative sales strategies, the project examines how value is produced through speculation, narrative, and collective belief.

Originally developed through public interventions, the project was expanded through a student take over by Digitale Kunst. This exhibition presents new project strands developed by the students: an NFT series reflecting on financial dependency, a merchandise collection appropriating the aesthetics of startup culture and luxury branding, and a series of short-form videos combining influencer culture, promotional performance, and social commentary.

Operating at the intersection of installation, performance, and participatory fiction, Renés Collapse Collection invites visitors to engage directly with the mechanisms of speculation, value production, and collapse.

A project by by Zora Hünermann and Jakob Margit

With contributions by: Ulrike Fritzsche, Koschka Cosmo Keye, Juarez Suarez, Ghanishka Kedar, Sei Jeung, Ghazal Naeimi, Dongjoo Kim, Jazzmin, Margherita Pruneti, Nicolás Henao Bonnet, Roma Bogdanov, and Grisha Terno.