air mess – Franck Scurti

[Title] air mess
[Artist] Franck Scurti
[Date] March 16 – May 16, 2006

“The air of Paris has been brought to Tokyo.” Franck Scurti’s window symbolically conveys this theme. The time in Paris is shown in the back panel of the front right window, and in the front left window, there is Tokyo time, visualizing the flow of time which continues from the right window to left. Moreover, the Hermès logo that appears in and out of sight between the products is distorted as if blown by the wind. The logo is also printed on the entrance mat between the two windows, where the wind literally passes through.
The artist has named this window, “Air Mess,” and like the title, the decoration gives the impression that the various products have been blown in the wind. The artist also thinks of “Air” as a metaphor of lightness for when ideas are produced. The word “draught” has two meanings, “unfinished form” or “current of air,” and this window could be said to have been formed by combining the two meanings. Ideas sometimes overflow and sometimes disappear, never forming a neat order… it is from this idea that “Mess” derives. The window also addresses the challenge of visually expressing the process of “creation,” which occurs inside the mind.
Focusing on the “connection of time” and the “connection of space” in the long distance between Paris – Tokyo, Scurti rhythmically unfolds his expression by strewing graffiti all around Hermès’ products or placing the products as if they have been blown by the wind. Here is an invitation to a “messy” trip, which forms a great compilation of the artist’s ideas.

Franck Scurti
Born in Lyon in 1965. Scurti is widely active in various fields, such as installation, video, photography and manga. In Japan, he exhibited at the Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennial 2000. Scurti creates witty works that take various quotidian scenes as motif.

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