The Commodification of Love

Catalogue of the eponymous group exhibition on the theme of romantic relationships in the digital age. Curator Cloé Perrone’s introductory text is followed by a series of works by Antoine Catala, Catharine Czudej, Cécile B. Evans, Pakui Hardware, Camille Henrot, Ingo Niermann & Alexa Karolinski, Lili Reynaud-Dewar, Avery Singer, and Anna Uddenberg. Feelings and sentimental relationships have started to depend on devices; we communicate and expand the connections we make through them. In a world where chance encounters are more unlikely, how do we make for new ones ? Although we think and live more independently, we still feel the need or pressure to share our lives with a better half. What is the role of love ? How do we define it ? How do we look for it ?Pakui Hardware’s neon sign, Still in the Dark and Camille Henrot’s Dawg Shamingphone sculpture along with her drawing series Skype Sex address the difficulties of sending and receiving correct messages. Avery Singer’s portraits and Anna Uddenberg’s Transit Mode Abenteuer pose remind us of the demanding physical and mental states that we encounter while creating and dealing with our profiles. Solitude and identity awareness are materialised in Antoine Catala’s videos Bedroom, New Feelings and his gaming table Insecure Attachment, while Cécile B. Evans’ A man in progress alludes to the continuous or progressive reinforcement of a particular framework of expression or gesture. Ingo Nierman’s and Alexa Karolinski’s video The Army of Love presents new possibilities of giving love, its new definition and its distribution. Published following the eponymous exhibition at galerie kamel mennour, Paris, from September 7 to October 8, 2017.