LONDON – What is luxury? It’s a surprisingly hard question to answer. I tried myself not so long ago, in a book called Luxury World. But that’s enough self-publicity – let’s talk about the “What is Luxury?” exhibition at the Victoria & Albert Museum (until September 27).
The answers provided by the museum are, as you might expect, diverse. One element that comes across very strongly is time – a rare commodity in the 21st century.
This includes the time invested in luxury objects. As the exhibition notes state: “Luxury production represents an investment in time. This applies not only to the time spent making an object but also to the process of perfecting skills.”
But time also means time for yourself, from breaking out of daily routines – the luxury of travel – to cozy moments at home. “In a busy and intrusive world, people increasingly value time and space for enjoying special moments and extraordinary experiences.”
Finally the exhibition considers the future of luxury. Will certain materials we take for granted today become rare in the future? The sculpture Gangjian Gui imagines the “plastic-smith”, making decorative objects in a world where plastic has become a precious material. More bizarre still are combs made from human hair and bio-resins, but which resemble objects carved from horn or tropical wood: “As the human population continues to grow and the world’s natural resources diminish, human hair could become an increasingly viable alternative.”
FOMO, Space Caviar, 2014–ongoing, FOMObile (steel, MDF, wheels, printer, computer, LCD monitors), online classified advertisements, custom FOMO software. Adapted for this installation on commission by the V&A. Courtesy of Space Caviar (from www.vam.ac.uk)
Finally, in a dystopian future of genetic engineering, the exhibition imagines a DNA vending machine, in which examples extracted from saliva are smartly packaged with a picture of the donor.
What is Luxury can be seen at the Victoria & Albert Museum, London, until September 27.
Mark Tungate is a British journalist based in Paris. He is editorial director of the Epica Awards, the only global creative awards judged by the specialist press. Mark is the author of six books about branding and marketing, including the recent Branded Beauty: How Marketing Changed the Way We Look.
Main photo: © Studio Drift, FF3 CC, Courtesy of Carpenters Workshop Gallery (from www.vam.ac.uk)
