VETRINA FAIRYTALE

In this film of intoxicating beauty, director Aleksandr Sokurov explores another dimension of time, where major events intermingle with the most intimate thoughts and seem to fade away, just as memories do in our minds. What better place to safeguard our recollections and dearest possessions than in a display cabinet that rises up so lightly, exalting its own materiality and immateriality through chiaroscuro, transparency and opacity? In this way, rather like in a fairy tale, this object becomes a visual metaphor of our personal history. In contrast to the other models in the collection, which are dense and materially substantial, the small family of Fairytale display cabinets in various sizes becomes part of In the Mood for Love as a distinctive beacon of aesthetic brilliance: volume, transparency and light, combined with the choice of materials, form contrasting elements that conjure and recall that timeless elegance always present in our memories. It is the ambience of the haute bourgeoisie from the 1930s to the 1950s that finds, in today’s renewed ways of living, a perfect and unmistakable place. The allure of smooth and fluted glass and its reflectance evokes that enduring passion for collecting and meticulous perfection, thereby enhancing the objects we hold most dear. A mighty marble base contrasts with the elegant simplicity of extruded aluminium profiles that incorporate a light source, sending out rhythmic waves in the textured glass, immersing displayed objects in a magical atmosphere and making Fairytale a symbolic statement of refined living.