“Mirror, mirror on the wall…” begins in the fairy tale the question of the extent to which one’s own beauty is reflected — as in the myth of Narcissus. In the shop window, our own reflection gives way to the display. When our self-love recedes, others have a chance. Not by imprecation, but with calculation, our desire is triggered by the window display, which knows its techniques like rhetoric knows its linguistic means.

In Antonia Breme’s publication, material from historical trade journals for window dressers, as well as photographs from her personal archive, which focus on detail and thus reveal the brittle materiality behind the illusionism of window displays, contextualize her sculptures and installations. At the same time, her artistic practice shows how precious this resource is for the aesthetics of contemporary sculpture.