"Who hasn’t gone shopping in a supermarket, a shopping mall or a chain store, to buy, spend, consume and finally fill up again? With her videos on the purchasing of the same goods by four different people in four European cities, Alexandra Dementieva lends a critical eye to this infernal ritual, so universalised throughout the world. It has as a corollary the detention of immense power in the hands of they who manage these hubs of consumption. At the same time, the bantering images because of there caricature and the “déjà-vu” impression they generate, indicate how these places have become the only public places, that is to say, the last meeting places that used to be provided by the agora or the church square. Because there aren’t any meeting places anymore, except supermarkets (or bars). What is more, citizens don’t exist anymore either, because there is less and less social linkage. Socialising is happening that much through television channels, telephone, e-mail or, more recently, video-conferencing (which is becoming more popular as well). Socialising is being practised without human contact and without real human encounters. GB, formerly the “Grand Bazaar”, well-known to Belgians (taken over by the multinational “Carrefour”), would that be the ultimate place for a surprise conversation with other people and the exchange of ideas? We are close to believing this, witness the lucid scenes shot in Moscow, Berlin, London and Brussels.'