What’s New on the Art Scene

It’s not what it seems

For this week’s edition, we will look at upcoming artworks that seem to have a misleading appearance.

“Sit down. Relax. Play music by simply touching another person” is the promise Can Touch This Studio gives us when walking up to this piece of furniture, reminiscent of Mondrian with its bold primary colour painted seats. Seen at the Other Art Fair in Shoreditch London, it’s an object that can be quite easy to overlook in the never-ending mass of artworks on display.

However for visitors of all ages, from children to elderly, the amazement is the same when understanding that skin to skin contact makes the piece come to life. As it hums a couple faint notes into your ears you finally understand how this bench pushes you to create contact with others and moments of intimacy.

Risette - Pop Up Lamp 1

Is it a book? Is it a lamp?

With the sole goal of the company to give purpose to the 90 degree edges and corners of our lived-in spaces, Risette has managed to come up with clever designs meant to highlight this often overlooked room detail. Is it a book? A lamp? - actually it’s the perfect in-between. It allows us to add shock and delight to the most underestimated corner in a unique, playful and creative way.

With their motto being “Corners define the limit of the room, edges give directions in the room”, their creations guide the eyes to a usually non exploited location of our interiors, changing the spatial narrative and our experience of the space.

Severance, Ben Stiller, 2022

Severance is a 2022 series and is currently releasing its second season. The TV show is directed by Ben Stiller and unravels in a society where an individual can deliberately decide to divide one's personal life from its professional one, dividing identity in two distinct personalities, without having any recollection of each of those. This is what Mark, played by Adam Scott, envisions for his life-or even lives-as a way to cope with a traumatic event by escaping from its souvenir, reminiscent of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind’s storyline.

Mark works for a company that requires to go through the severance program, and after one of his friend and colleague disappears, he is forced to question everything he took for granted as nothing appears to be what it seems.

Autopsie d’un Repas, Hugo Usai, 2023

Autopsie d’un Repas is a 2023 short film directed by Hugo Usai from the Ateliers de Sèvres. The animated moving picture renders what would usually be a typical Sunday lunch amongst what appears to be a family of five members from the number of chairs, but is actually a grieving one. With the absence of the elder brother Basil, George (the youngest one) endorses the role of the joyful and lively kid, acting as if this weekly gathering was what it used to be. By commenting on his mother’s cooking and detailing everything he loves about this kitchen, he achieves, at least in his perspective, to divert the focus on his brother's absence. By overlapping his parents' shouting, he is introduced as the omniscient narrator, allowing the viewers access to his thoughts and point of view, exploring the concept of alterity.