A new exhibition due to open at the V&A this spring aims to make us reflect on our notion of luxury. This market seems to live on pushing the boundries of ‘expensiveness’. But is it all about the price tag? What does it take for an object to be perceived as LUXURY?
Image: A rare Issey Miyake raspberry-pink moulded plastic breastplate/bodice (Lot 202) from his zodiac collection
A new exhibition due to open at the V&A this spring aims to make us reflect on our notion of luxury. This market seems to live on pushing the boundries of ‘expensiveness’. But is it all about the price tag? What does it take for an object to be perceived as LUXURY?
Necklace Bubble Bath by Nora Fok, 2001. Picture: Heini Schneebeli, Courtesy of the Crafts Council
What is Luxury will challenge the way we think about luxury. The exhibition will feature more than 100 items, which include a diamond made from roadkill, a vending machine stocked with DNA or a watch with no dial. For what is time, but the greatest luxury of all?
“The exhibition questions the very idea of luxury today,” says Jana Scholze, V&A curator of contemporary furniture, who has co-curated the exhibition along with visiting research fellow Leanne Wierzba. “It will challenge common interpretations of luxury, invite close examination of luxury production and extend ideas of what luxury can be. Essentially, the question of luxury is a personal one.”
Combs Hair Highway by Studio Swine, 2014. Picture: Studio Swine
The exhibition will also study the future of luxury through a range of investigations that examine how we create cultural value and the materials used in their creation.
Voltage Dress, Iris van Herpen Haute Couture 2013, Paris. Picture courtesy V&A/M. Zoeter
Second Space Traveller Watch by George Daniels,1982. Picture: Jasper Gough, Sotheby’s
There will be a section dedicated to time and space titled Time for Yourself, which will feature a watch with no dial.
What is Luxury? runs from 5 April – 27 September 2015 at the V&A. The exhibition is sponosred by Northacre and entry is free; visit vam.co.uk for more information.
