1995

This project was sponsored by various London arts and academic institutions in the context of a larger group exhibition entitled “Desiring Practices” that placed artworks in public settings. 

My project involved the selection of seven sites around the city of London, and one site in Paris, and the displacement of objects from one storefront display to another. Each displacement was executed to produce a new reading through a strategy of disjunction and contrast. 

Feminine women's hats were displaced to the vitrine of the Royal Institute of British Architects Bookshop, situated in the lobby that displayed the names of RIBA medal winners, virtually all of whom were men; real estate listings from a low-income, largely black neighborhood were displaced to the hat shop, which was situated between the listings in two real estate agencies in one of the most expensive neighborhoods in London; a poster from one of my previous exhibitions was placed in a vitrine that normally held club listings on a popular shopping street in London; the club listings were displaced to the real estate agency window as described above, etc. 

A circular viewing trajectory was established by the displacements and the related addresses shown in each window, directing the spectator to the previous site from which the objects had been displaced.

(7 locations, displaced goods, placards)