The refrigerator is among the most important technical achievements of everyday life and thus extends the so-called cooling chain. By means of this chain it is possible to preserve and eat perishable food independent of the time of year and to thus prevent typical nutritional deficiencies. In the 1950s the refrigerator, in addition to the car, television, and washing machine, symbolised the domestic modernity of the 'economic miracle'. Nevertheless, the electric refrigerator is a paradox: It cools its interior by heating up its surroundings and thereby becomes a reflection of a desolate progress-oriented society which enjoys its luxury on the inside at the cost of destroying its environment on the exterior. more...
