In this video work a narrator gives the viewer an introductory course on shop design and product display. The video presents six black and white images of London shop interiors from the 1920s accompanied by a voice-over “lecture”. The narrator (text and images are from A. Trystan Edwards’ The Architecture of Shops. London: Chapman & Hall, 1931) spends much time analyzing an image of a Harrods store display where a fan of umbrellas is considered particularly problematic: “Remember, a marked symmetry or formality in the arrangement of the goods may easily be overdone.” But it is precisely this outrageous display that has been painstakingly recreated as a sculpture (see Display VII), to be shown alongside the video.
Documentation: Video excerpt, stills
Terence Gower, 2004
Digital Video: 4:20 minutes
Text and Images: The Architecture of Shops (A. Trystan Edwards. Chapman & Hall, London, 1931)
Edit: Anita Chao
Voice: Brian Nissen, recorded at Echo Canyon, New York
Sound Engineer: Aaron Mullan
Titles: Julieta Aranda
Project Text: The Architecture of Shops
Script: The Architecture of Shops
