Date:

DISPLAYSTHETICS
by item idem
Céline flagship store, B1 art space, Omotesando, Tokyo.
DISPLAYSTHETICS unveils an overwhelming yet inviting hybrid reconfiguration of Céline's Omotesando flagship store. In venturesome variations to the usual luxury display, item idem triggers a multifaceted installation introducing everyday objects, furnishings and items into astounding scenarios and happenings.
From renegade art space Caniche Courage to internationally acclaimed Bernhard Wilhelm Tokyo store or the week-long occupation of bewitching retail temple Loveless’ window, item idem uses retail environs as highly-cultural settings by relocating performative actions within. Collisions of structures re- create crossbreed territories where actions and involvements re-invent themselves towards new meanings and communication schemes. A mini nightclub invading a luxury boutique, a home interior shifting temporarily into a private photo studio, an art gallery switching into an ethnical gastronomic restaurant are as many options on item idem’s negotiating table, along with daily interactions with invited artists, performers and magazines. In contrast to the luxury store's typically slick displays, the gallery space and show windows are dramatically altered by a maze of products compulsively purchased from Tokyo Hands, becoming an ephemeral, D.I.Y. play on display.
item idem’s conceptually-driven works at the crossroads of art, fashion, design and retail science propose today a wittily loose interpretation of Nicolas Bourriaud’s “relational aesthetics”. Artworks give birth to unexpected situations and foster interaction opportunities toward new interconnections, themselves redefining the overall concept and shape of the finalized artwork. In his attempt to relocate heterogeneous aesthetical structures, item idem collaborated with personalities as diverse as Michel Gaubert, Loris Gréaud, Terence Koh, Bruce LaBruce, Karl Lagerfeld, Nagi Noda, Kevin Spacey, Bernhard Willhelm or Tobias Wong.
A highlight of Tokyo Design Tide 2007, DISPLAYSTHETICS is an installation produced with the help of CulturesFrance & the French Embassy in Japan: it is also item idem’s latest installation and his first intervention since his nomination for “ The Great Indoors Award 2007” (initiated by FRAME magazine), among celebrated architects and designers such as Zaha Hadid or Masamichi Katayama (Wonderwall, Inc.).