The Seven Summits are the highest mountains of each of the seven (sub-)continents. Summiting all of them is regarded to be a mountaineering challenge.
The Seven Summits is based on the idea of occupying and conquering territories. Its aim is to act upon social pressure and tensions, which are related to possession of goods, professional success, achievement of wealth and, of course, to the notion of power.
By raising a flag, the artists conquer and occupy territories, which show representative aspects of a typical consumer society. Moreover, The Seven Summits pictures should be seen as allusions to historical and fictitious scenes of conquests.
The Seven Summits must be seen as a response to the world art market and its economical ascension. The “problem” that art encounters in this particular context seems to become a problem of status and therefore, questions related to the definition of art should not be separated form their social status. Materialist ambitions take such an important place in today’s society that even the most creative process seems to be motivated by economical reasons. Thus, to reach the summit of one’s life status could be seen as an ironical paradox.
