Petits Objets: Politics between Luxury, Pleasure and Art

Set in an ex-law office between Place Vendôme and the Louvre gardens, “Petits Objets” explores the power relations between the art and luxury-goods markets and the link between the capitalist dynamics of surplus-value and the libidinal dynamics of surplus-enjoyment.

Reevaluating art’s position in the free market and questioning its auratic value, artworks will be juxtaposed with collectibles and even vernacular items in a presentation oscillating between a cabinet of curiosities and a luxury showroom.

In a word play to objet petit a, the unattainable object of desire in Lacanian psychoanalysis, “Petits Objets” questions the internal mechanisms behind the action of buying (not primarily ornamental) art. Objet petit a is behind desire – it’s “off stage” in relation to fantasmatic desire and therefore seems to be completely indeterminable, but still very relatable to the inner workings of the art and luxury markets.

Artists: Arianna Marcolin, Baseera Khan, The Cool Couple, Epos 257, Francois Dallegret, G. Olmo Stuppia, Irwin, Jusuf Hadžifejzović, Marley White, Marya Kazoun, Matteo Vettorello, Nada Zeineh, Stefano Cagol