Preppers

Preppers was an exhibition about doomsday preppers — the global subculture of people who prepare for the collapse of society. Preppers collect specialised gear, practice survival skills, and hoard violent knowledge. They gather in communities and clubs as well as online. Prepping is a hobby but also a worldview, with its own distinct aesthetics, vocabulary, and consumer products.

This exhibition considered the prepper phenomenon as an expression of wider cultural anxieties. Today catastrophe looms on many fronts — whether environmental collapse, disruptive technology, rising political nativism, or another financial crash. While established power systems fail to address these great challenges, preppers are hard at work planning for the worst. In this moment of great uncertainty, they understand that chaos also represents an opportunity.

Preppers was part of a series on this theme. The project began with presentations at galleries in Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, and Fremantle, and was then extended through touring with ART ON THE MOVE. It featured five contemporary Australian and International artists producing sculpture, video, installation, and print art.