In earlier times people congregated in temples and churches. Today, anyone moving around a metropolis like New York will choose to meet people elsewhere. They will stand patiently in queues outside the Apple store in Soho or Supreme on the Bowery, and pass through the larger-than-life gates of the city’s flagship stores, roaming through wide halls in which only a few products are on display as if on altars.
Shops and malls have become contemporary iterations of sacred spaces in which the business of desire is sublimated. Even if this comparison with religious sites, in which products can be likened to devotionals, seems to go too far – the formal, aesthetic and spatial links between the two are obvious. High walls, huge tables and grand marble or concrete stairs reduce a shopper’s sense of self-perception and make the space appear all-powerful. Monumental art elements are referenced in shops to create further reverence and respect. (Tanja Pabelick)
Shops and malls have become contemporary iterations of sacred spaces in which the business of desire is sublimated. Even if this comparison with religious sites, in which products can be likened to devotionals, seems to go too far – the formal, aesthetic and spatial links between the two are obvious. High walls, huge tables and grand marble or concrete stairs reduce a shopper’s sense of self-perception and make the space appear all-powerful. Monumental art elements are referenced in shops to create further reverence and respect. (Tanja Pabelick)