'Cubo' libre

The French freestyler behind the current edition (focusing on our perception of the spaces we inhabit) and the previous one (about our rapport with time) is an architect, and it shows: a professor at the École Nationale Supérieure d'Architecture de Paris La Villette and curator of the Pompidou-based Musée National d'Art Moderne-Centre de Création Industrielle, Valentina Moimas mixes and matches exhibits belonging to the Parisian museum's permanent collection of modern and contemporary art (the largest in Europe) with thought-provoking objects and images gleaned from its other departments - a splash of architecture and design, a dash of cinema and photography, a zest of multimedia serendipity... - in order to construct curatorial narratives.

Much as the former display entitled Un Tiempo Propio (A Time of One's Own: Escaping the Clock in English) explored the timeless topic of time with a capital T, placing it in a timely post-lockdown perspective, the present thematic overview, dubbed Place-ness, examines our sense of place in the light of collective reactions sparked not only by Covid-19 confinement, but also ingrained in on-going geopolitical events; references to consumerism, climate change and sustainability are ubiquitous in this second Moinas opus.

There is a Lockness-like jingle-jangle to the use of the suffix "-ness", forever resurgent as an indicator of coolness. Launched in 2010, a highly influential video channel named Nowness has made a place for itself in the Metaverse as a benchmark of cross-disciplinary "curatorial expertise" and creativeness: "the go-to source of inspiration" for global culture vultures.

From the fashion for "well-ness", which has snowballed since the pandemic, to the growing success of "mindful-ness" (a psychological practice built upon the notion of living in the present, in a permanent state of self-awareness), the emergence of lifestyles with healing powers is a palpable trend.

To my mind, the highlights of Place-ness - Inhabiting Space are its threshold (a Prelude consisting of Cornwall Slate Circle, an installation by the British artist, Richard Long, traditionally associated with land art in spite of his reservations regarding the movement's appropriation of nature), and Reconfiguring Dreams and Realities, its grand finale showcasing XXL works by international mainstreamers, the most spectacular of these being Redemption (2012-2014): a larger-than-life chair piece by Cameroon-born, Ivory Coast-trained, self-styled "migratory artist" Barthélémy Toguo.

Technically speaking, Long's 291 fragments of slate salvaged from an abandoned Cornish quarry are out of place indoors, and Toguo's monumental wooden seats - the first laden with bales of African wax-print fabrics and plastic bags; the second featuring oversized office stamps carved out of tree branches, symbolising the administrative hassles displaced persons have to overcome - are no less incongruous, but... hey, perhaps that's the whole point...!

Place-ness is filled with boundless visual thrills; from Marc Chagall to Fernand Léger, from Jim Dine to David Hockney, from Joan Mitchell to Jannis Kounellis, from Daniel Spoerri to Giussepe Penone, household names and famous trailblazers are only the tip of the iceberg.

Deconstructing clichés, its introductory section spotlighting the dichotomy between rural futurism and the urban ethos, incorporates star designers. "All I want for Christmas is..." that organic curvilinear moulded plywood screen conceived by Charles and Ray Eames back in 1946. No mere room divider, this foldable gem stopped me in my tracks.

The concept of place, both physical and existential, is always a sign of the times - anything but static. Over the past decades, it has acquired an additional dimension: virtual-ness. Virtuality came in handy in the 'Corona era', when working from home became a vital necessity.

Does Cocktails with a Curator ring a bell? In 2020-21, New York's Frick Collection went virtual presenting a 65-episode Webby Award-winning YouTube series with an artistic twist, the too-cool-for-words idea being to pair its roster of Old Masters with cocktails.

At 5 o'clock, on Friday, 10 April, 2020, the museum's Deputy Director and Chief Curator Xavier F. Salomon appeared on screen in his living room for the first time; clad in a striped robe, he proposed a toast to Bellini's Saint Francis in The Desert (circa 1476-78), not on this occasion wielding as might be expected a flute of peachy champagne - the emblematic Venetian tipple, known as a "Bellini" - but instead a Manhattan, as a nod to the Frick's NYC home.

Published in October 2022, the Rizzoli coffee table book based on this Ritzy arty concept -complete with cocktail recipes and masterpiece-inspired illustrations by Spanish artist Luis Serrano – is well placed in my Letter to Santa. Tchin-tchin... Chim, chiminey...!