FRESH WINDOW – Christmas Bonus III

Kaffetrykkeri, Rogaland Kunstsenter, Stavanger, Norway, 2024

A window display serves as a powerful tool to showcase merchandise and attract customers. This is particularly prominent during the lead-up to Christmas when retail shops worldwide put extra effort into creating elaborate displays, inviting people to go window shopping. Iconic examples include the spectacular holiday displays of department stores on New York’s Fifth Avenue, often featured in American holiday films, and the historical evolution of window dressing in the UK, as explored in the Netflix series Mr. Selfridge. Historically, shop windows were functional spaces, primarily used for storage with little consideration for aesthetic appeal. Today, however, they are central to retail strategy, designed to capture the attention of passersby and invite them inside with the ultimate goal of driving sales. This principle applies not only to traditional retail but also to cafés, where the window acts like a frame presenting a glimpse of the bustling interior to attract potential customers.

There is a close link between the evolution of shop window displays and the history of art. Many known artists decorated window displays before they established themselves as artists – names like Marcel Duchamp, Robert Rauschenberg, Jasper Johns, and Andy Warhol, were amongst them. The Swiss artist Jean Tinguely even studied to be a professional window dresser before he became an artist. Conversely, window displays have frequently appeared as motifs in various artistic mediums, including paintings, installations, sculptures, video works and photography as well as functioning as stages for performances. From Martha Rosler documenting gentrification in her neighbourhood through the evolving window displays in her Greenpoint series (New Fronts, 2015, ongoing) via Elmgreen & Dragset constructing a Prada boutique with an expansive window display in the middle of the desert (Prada Marfa, 2005) to Martina Morger physically enacting the French phrase for "window shopping" by licking shop windows (Lèche Vitrines, 2020).

Window displays, at their best, can foster interaction, spark discussion, and create meaningful encounters; bringing us back to the essence of community and business. Café window displays, in particular, aim to draw in passersby, ideally triggering a sense of urgency or FOMO (fear of missing out) by offering a preview of the experience waiting inside. A fundamental strategy for effective window dressing lies in identifying the target audience. For Kaffetrykkeri and RKS, this audience once included pedestrians and cyclists navigating Nytorget and Pedersgata. However, the current situation presents significant challenges. The primary window and entrance are now obstructed by a fenced-off construction site with office containers, completely cutting off potential walk-in visitors and customers. The building’s facade is entirely concealed, with access only possible via a single locked emergency door embedded within the fencing. The imposing presence of the office containers creates an unusual dynamic, leaving Kaffetrykkeri’s window display in a perpetual stare-down with the containers' windows.

FRESH WINDOW is dedicated to those who keep on navigating their way through the back door, supporting Kaffetrykkeri & RKS as well as to the life (TV) within the containers.

I would like to reference the exhibition FRESH WINDOW, THE ART OF DISPLAY & DISPLAY OF ART, currently on view at Museum Tinguely in Basel, Switzerland. The exhibition, from which I borrowed the title, offers insightful perspectives on the complex intersection between the history of art and windowdisplays. https://www.tinguely.ch/en/exhibitions/exhibitions/2024/fresh-window.html