"What is luxury?" wondered a while back an exhibition at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London. Nowadays luxury can mean very different things: you can opt between classic luxury products by famous fashion houses; garments and accessories made in luxurious materials, or more minimalist and sustainable luxury pieces, not to mention the new frontiers of luxury, showing us a future made of technological devices.
But luxury can also be a metaphor for other things: freedom of speech may still be a luxury in some countries but so is disconnecting from the digital world or having more time to spend with our dearest ones.
Wanna try and give your own interpretation of luxury? You can do so at the annual Critical Halloween party organized by Storefront for Art and Architecture in New York. The theme for Saturday's party at United Palace, formerly one of the original five Loew's Wonder Theatres (4140 Broadway, New York) is luxury in all its manifestations.
Derived from the Latin "luxus" (excess), the term has been at the centre of many debates and essays throughout the centuries: condemned by some thinkers such as Giambattista Vico as a vice and a poison, it became a key theme of discussion for Neapolitan Abbé Ferdinando Galiani.
For the Italian economist, philosopher and statesman this word hid vague and doubtful meanings but in general didn't mean none other than "great refinement in the gratification of the senses". Yet, in his treatise "Della moneta" (On Money), Galiani wrote about the concept of value, stating that luxury and consumption didn't have to be pernicious for society but could have had positive effects, while luxury may have been a force for social change, linked with the growth of trade.
Yet modern excess has driven us to forget about real growth for all, fairness and equality, capitalism has triumphed and luxury cars, goods, and homes – things that Storefront for Art and Architecture claim have little to do with luxury itself – have turned into the values behind our real aspirations.
Critical Halloween invites people to look at definitions of luxury in art, architecture, and design (check out the hilarious video promoting the event, a mix of artists, starchitects and fashion designers with some clever hints at the links between the various disciplines), and to redefine their possibilities in shaping the future.
As every year, the annual event will feature a Costume Competition (a jury of critics and experts will review the costumes for the following categories: Best Overall Costume, Best Individual Costume, Best Duo/Couple Costume, and Best Group Costume, so get creative…), music and dancing.
There will also be plenty of space for conversation and intellectual debate about radical subjects. These Storefront for Art and Architecture parties are indeed conceived as occasions to talk about key issues in a fun environment.
The Storefront for Art and Architecture Halloween parties have been going for a few years now and they have focused on themes such as Relevance, Corporate Avant-Garde and Banality, issues that seem to be far away from the most banal costume parties promoted by the fashion pack.
The best thing about these events though is the fact that participants often come up with the most bizarre and original costumes. Need inspiration for the next event? Storefront has even put together a "Party Bibliography" about luxury with a compilation of books and essays that can help individuals interested in investigating the topic of this year's event. The bibliography about luxury features historical texts but also philosophical writings about desire, excess, and aspirations of fairness. Looks like you have no excuses not to be creative.
"Critical Halloween: Luxury" by Storefront for Art and Architecture, October 29th, 2016, United Palace, 4140 Broadway, New York, NY. Critical Halloween is a ticketed event ($50 in advance).
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