Mortality Table (Tablice smrtnosti)

Marija Mojca Pungerčar's project Mortality Table consists of a batch of hand-made chocolate bars. A graphic image – data on the life expectancy of men and women – has been moulded onto the chocolate. The Mortality Table project is named after an actuarial table that shows, for a person at each age, the probability of surviving any particular year of age. Life expectancy for men and women is calculated separately. This table is used by insurance companies to calculate life annuities. According to the statistics, women outlive men. Insurance companies use this as an excuse to pay out lower pensions to women even though they make the same payments for the same number of years as men. The project aims to inform through pleasure. The calculations imprinted on chocolate are based on the DAV 1994R table, which the Slovenian insurance companies are obliged to use. With this project Marija Mojca Pungerčar calls your attention to the way the insurance industry uses demographic statistics, which she feels is a form of hidden discrimination against women in capitalism. (Marija Mojca Pungerčar)

Organisation: City of Women; In collaboration with: Škuc Gallery, KUD Trivia