Please do not touch.
This is an auction: as a visitor, you are invited to bid on the object on display, disassembled into all of its components. At the centre of this object-based performance, designer Mawuto Dotou raises the question: what is the worth of things? And more importantly, what does this worth tell about the worth we assign to human lives?
Emerging from a personal process of reflection during the fellowship, Dotou found it increasingly difficult to relate to the ownership of a cultivated luxury object. What turns objects into status symbols, what defines them as luxury goods? And how do such objects relate to a global reality in which a lack of freedom is part of everyday life, where people lose the ability to move freely, seek protection, or determine their own lives?
For Dotou, a USM Haller unit had long been an object of desire. When it eventually came into their possession during the fellowship, it remained unopened for weeks. Still in its packaging, it became part of everyday life: a surface, an obstacle, a silent presence in the room — and at the same time a constant reminder of the growing question of worth.
Rather than using or redesigning the object, it is offered for sale. The auction operates with a concealed minimum bid. The highest bidder receives a certificate along with the USM Haller unit. All proceeds are donated to Asmaras World e.V., a Hamburg-based initiative supporting refugees through counselling and practical structures of everyday assistance.
Mawuto Dotou works independently at the intersection of communication design, social practice and cultural production. Their work is shaped by intersectional perspectives, particularly Black and queer positions, as well as a process-oriented approach. Experiences from freelance practice, teaching and design research inform workshops, talks and mentoring formats, with the aim of making design accessible as a tool for visibility, empowerment, and critical engagement. Mawuto was a resident of the Stiftung Hamburger Kunstsammlungen at the Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe and currently teaches at Designschule Schwerin, as well as at Hochschule Coburg.
Please do not touch.
This is an auction: as a visitor, you are invited to bid on the object on display, disassembled into all of its components. At the centre of this object-based performance, designer Mawuto Dotou raises the question: what is the worth of things? And more importantly, what does this worth tell about the worth we assign to human lives?
Emerging from a personal process of reflection during the fellowship, Dotou found it increasingly difficult to relate to the ownership of a cultivated luxury object. What turns objects into status symbols, what defines them as luxury goods? And how do such objects relate to a global reality in which a lack of freedom is part of everyday life, where people lose the ability to move freely, seek protection, or determine their own lives?
For Dotou, a USM Haller unit had long been an object of desire. When it eventually came into their possession during the fellowship, it remained unopened for weeks. Still in its packaging, it became part of everyday life: a surface, an obstacle, a silent presence in the room — and at the same time a constant reminder of the growing question of worth.
Rather than using or redesigning the object, it is offered for sale. The auction operates with a concealed minimum bid. The highest bidder receives a certificate along with the USM Haller unit. All proceeds are donated to Asmaras World e.V., a Hamburg-based initiative supporting refugees through counselling and practical structures of everyday assistance.
Mawuto Dotou works independently at the intersection of communication design, social practice and cultural production. Their work is shaped by intersectional perspectives, particularly Black and queer positions, as well as a process-oriented approach. Experiences from freelance practice, teaching and design research inform workshops, talks and mentoring formats, with the aim of making design accessible as a tool for visibility, empowerment, and critical engagement. Mawuto was a resident of the Stiftung Hamburger Kunstsammlungen at the Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe and currently teaches at Designschule Schwerin, as well as at Hochschule Coburg.