ECHO OBJECTS

Whether we realize it or not, objects shape certain aspects of our lives; they give rhythm to our lives and, often, outlive us. Like trees, the earth, and stones, they transcend the scale of our human lives by encompassing a broader space-time continuum.

 

Dreamed up, imagined, drawn, and crafted—these objects, when they are the result of a commitment, ethics, necessity, or the joy of creation, are transformed into witnesses and embodiments of our concerns, our knowledge, and the memories of those we love. As tools of memory, they serve as talismans against oblivion.

 

By inviting the Stimmung Gallery to engage in a collaborative dialogue between works from the past and the craftsmanship of our present, La Maison de Commerce explores its position, its practice, and its desire to contribute to the urgent need to reestablish a more balanced relationship with the world around us. 

Together, the stimmung gallery and La Maison de Commerce are exploring a horizon that embraces “a history of the time when humans and things were not yet distinct,” to paraphrase Lévi-Strauss’s beautiful phrase.

These objects in conversation help us grasp relationships between shapes, textures, frictions, friendly voices, the surprise of chance—and within them resonates a multitude: successive waves of humans in harmony with their environments. 

The object can thus appear as a lasting remnant of the past that surfaces in the present. Like a silent guide to break free from the sad reduction to a mere “decorative object”—inconsistent, out of fashion, consumable, disposable. 

At the root of our fascination with such echoes lies a rare attention to the objects that surround us and the actions that bring them to life; there is also the ambition to draw on the quality of household objects to sketch out new, more sensitive dimensions of daily life and more desirable futures.