The Art of the Concept Store

Avignon in Provence is rightly revered for its historic cultural icons, such as the immense Palace of the Popes. But in recent years, Avignon has also become a hot spot for innovative French ‘concept art’ or simply ‘con art.’ Expressing a contempt for the usual gallery-based presentation of art, con art instead regards the degenerate physical world as its gallery (indeed, as its subject matter) while navigating the unavoidable paradox of narrow gallery rejection but expansive gallery acceptance. The resolution of this apparent paradox is central to the appreciation of con art.

Rather than imprisoning us in the bourgeois paradigm of visiting (say) the Musée d’Orsay, with its insolent insistence that ‘this and only this is the kind of place where great art happens,’ we can experience a transcendent liberation by embracing the con art perspective that the conscious act of curated perceiving can create a sense of art in and of itself. That is to say, we can be guided by conceptual artists to project our perceptions beyond physical manifestations to the essence of the concept implied by the matter, if only we can really see it for what it truly is.

For instance, one of the seminal expressions of contemporary French concept art may be discovered in a seemingly-derelict shopfront on nondescript backstreet of Avignon’s old town – and with deliciously self-conscious irony, being situated only a few moments away from the Palace of the Popes. ‘Concept Store’ was an installation created by the Avignon Anarcho-art Collective. The very name of the work itself – the combination of ‘concept’ and ‘store’ – conjures the dialectical conflict between the ideal of the notion of ‘concept’ and the putrid capitalist reality of the word ‘store.’ The inherent contradiction that we can perceive within the title ‘Concept Store’ primes our consciousness for an existential struggle that expresses itself but never completely resolves itself in the art installation.

Looking closely, we can see that the very title ‘Concept Store’ is expressed in a random assortment of both upper-case and lower-case adhesive plastic lettering, deliberately subverting the conventional and ‘correct’ way to render meaning, while retaining its ironic perceptibility. Meanwhile, the plate glass of the store window, which capitalism typically expresses as being transparent, as if to say ‘there’s nothing between you and your material desires (except money)’ is actually revealed as being grubby, grimy and apparently impenetrable for the masses, absent direct action.

Gazing through the grime, we are confronted with the tawdry remains of dead and desiccated foliage, badly swept into a corner. But the concept and reality of the raw metaphor cannot be hidden from sight, if we choose to see. In this dirty corner are capitalism’s even dirtier secrets exposed: rapacious deforestation, global warming and tasteless flower arranging.

What is capitalism’s answer to all of this? As we can see, merely a tired roll of masking tape. But no amount of masking tape can hide capitalist evil, revive a rainforest, make a vegan sausage tasty or, indeed, mend a broken heart. Not even the Bee Gees could figure out that last one.

And what is holding all of this together from the window-tapping, anarcho-rebelling world outside? As we can see, it’s a concrete window sill: fatally cracked and crudely patched, a mere temporary forestalling of the inevitable corrosion and collapse of the base and the smashing of the glassy superstructure. Careful where you walk, now.

Well, if you believe any of that rubbish, you’re even more cracked than the sill. ‘Con art’ indeed.

Wait a minute! Does (or did) the ‘Concept Store’ actually exist? Sure… well, perhaps not exactly as an Anarcho-art Collective installation. But the abandoned store really was on a tiny Avignon side-street in the old town, opposite a fancy shirt shop and a little pizza place with red and white check tablecloths. That should narrow it down a bit.