Three emerging artists—Jenna Bliss, Buck Ellison, and Jasmine Gregory—present a multi-media exhibition titled 'Genuine Fake Premium Economy' at London’s Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA). The show satirically examines the societal and economic fallout of the 2008 financial crisis, using works that critique capitalism, inheritance, and art-world stereotypes. Gregory repaints Patek Philippe ads to expose class structures, Bliss films a fictional art fair that blurs reality and fiction, and Ellison creates lightboxes for a fictional private bank, manipulating corporate language and philosophy.
The exhibition matters because it offers a sharp, generational critique of how financial collapse and inequality persist in shaping identity, ownership, and exclusion. By focusing on artists born in the mid-1980s who directly experienced the 2008 crisis, the show connects personal experience to broader systemic issues, using satire to question the narratives of wealth and stability promoted by luxury brands and financial institutions. It highlights how contemporary art can dissect and resist the very systems it reflects.