Late Night Group Therapy Unter Uns: Fashion & Waste
Maja Grünzner, ESR14, University of Vienna

The art event Late Night Group Therapy Unter Uns which took place on November 10, 2022 at the WUK in Vienna, Austria focused on the topics of fashion, waste and microplastics. The guest speaker for the event was Maja Grünzner, a PhD student in environmental psychology at the University of Vienna and part of the H2020 LimnoPlast project who specializes in studying human perception and consumer behaviour with a particular focus on microplastics and fashion. While clothing serving as a functional purpose of protecting us from the elements, it also serves as a means of expressing ourselves. However, it is clear that many of us own more clothing than we actually need, and the fashion industry is one of the largest contributors to environmental issues. Therefore, the event aimed to address these issues and provide insight into how to navigate these dilemmas and paradoxes with an active audience. Attendees had the opportunity to explore their own attitudes and behaviours towards fashion and were able to reflect on them with professional guidance.