19th October – 22nd December

After another year of activity including three themed exhibitions, Comme des Garçons (design through the eyes of a fashion designer), Borders (design through the eyes of visual artists) and Tribu (the role of a design retailer), A1043 now focuses on its own work as a gallerist in its new exhibition Fantasma. Indeed in an era when social networks, particularly Instagram, are omnipresent in our everyday lives, what does being a gallerist mean and, for us, a design gallerist?

Each individual Instagram account reflects our personalities, tastes, dreams, desires and sometimes illusions. Instagram twists reality, undoubtedly it is the most perfect illusion ever known. In a world where images reign we can and must question our relationship with reality. Everyone has the potential to become a media personality, passionate traveller, explorer, DJ, designer or gallerist with minimal effort.

You can hold an online exhibition thanks to smartphones, image editing software and a white background in your living room. It is not necessary to have a dedicated space and objects in very good condition. Flaws can easily be retouched. You no longer need to own the objects, as you can use an existing online photo if you can locate an object without acquiring it and offer it for sale on Instagram.

In this state of ambiguity, approximation and changes in habits, A1043 feels compelled to ask the following questions: what does being a gallerist mean these days? What is our role? Is a gallerist just a dealer? Is it necessary to introduce objects we don’t know or that we have forgotten about? What choices should we be making? Is artistic direction required? What do taste, curiosity and culture mean essentially? Qualities without which we cannot appreciate our surroundings and that require effort but that are not necessary if only the surface of the images is scratched.

Fantasma, that also means ghost in Italian, evokes delusion. Fantasma is an exhibition for two spaces, the physical space of the gallery and the ideal Instagram space. Two related means of exhibition: one that is physical and the other virtual, two realities combining to form one. Fantasma is an exhibition in the Instagram age. An exhibition that exists through Instagram, thanks to Instagram, because of Instagram and that could not take place without this app. This exhibition will be based on curiosity and surprise. Not everything is as it seems.

Images of the exhibition will not be circulated beforehand, nor will any objects be revealed. Minimal information will be available. Fantasma toys with the usual exhibition standards and codes. Fantasma is a game, played to an audience just like Instagram.

There are two stages to Fantasma. From 19th October to 29th November, and from 30th November to 22nd December. On the evening of 29th November Fantasma will assume a second form with a special event leading on to a festive evening.