THE WRONG STORE is an art installation in the language of a retail or guerrilla shop. Conceptually, no one can enter and nothing individually can be purchased, though everything will be visible as the space is under a 100 sq feet (much like the former Wrong Gallery by Maurizio Catalan). However, as a retail shop "everything" is for sale but only as a whole (the complete installation). It will exist for two months in a high traffic ground floor gallery space in Chelsea, New York City.
The installation is concerned with exploring the concepts of the gallery as a shop, a shop as a gallery, and the commerce role in the creation of desire and unavailability. The show is curated by Tobias Wong and Gregory Krum and opens May 19th, 2007 for two months.
Tobias Wong is an artist and designer who has exhibited widely and has several design objects in production. He was responsible for the shop installation in Terminal 5, the art show in the Saarinen structure at JFK International Airport. Tobias is interested in contrast; something/nothing, function/form, art as monumental/incidental. He is uncomfortable with his place in the art and design world and says of his work "I don't want to make 'art' or 'design' necessarily...it's just stuff...extra stuff in the world...art galleries and design showrooms are places where I have been able to do what I do...but that doesn't make what I do either."
Gregory Krum's work is primarily concerned with the notion of extreme affection...affection for land, a person, an object...and the joys and problems within a moral and intellectual context. He also serves as Director of Retail for the Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum where he designed the shop and offers a carefully selected group of objects and multiples relating to design. Since his involvement with The Cooper Hewitt Museum, Krum has not only successfully challenged the notion of a museum gift shop and taken it to a higher level, but also increased it's profit substantially. Prior to Cooper-Hewitt, Krum worked nearly five years as Product Manager for the New York design store, moss.
The installation is in conjunction with Kantor/Feuer Gallery in New York.
Store Director : Josee Lepage of Commissaires (Montreal)
Weekend Manager : Patrick Li
Conceptual Consultant : Cyril Duval of item idem
Stockboy : Jasper Pope
Artists/Designers include: Lawrence Weiner, Joseph Beuys, Herzog and de Meuron, Bless, 032C, Christian Marclay, Martin Baas, Hella Jongerious / JongeriusLab, Richard Tuttle, Dean MacGregor, Peter Moore, Ron Gilad, Anton Ginsburg, Yves Behar, Richard Prince, Joris Laarman, Jenny Holzer, Work in Progress, Verner Panton, Robert De Saint Phalle, Gaetano Pesce, Sol Lewitt, JDS Architects, Kaws, Marcel Wanders, Aldo Rossi, Rodarte, Constantin Boym, Aqui! Magazine, Tim E. Dubitsky, Gilbert & George, et al...
Many of the objects are rare or one-of-a-kind and exclusive to the exhibition. Creative agency Work in Progress will design the store's identity, shopping bags, business cards, invitations, stationery, etc. Martin Margliela will create the staff's uniform.