Asahi Silver+Black

Overview

Exhibition crossed with pop-up store, this art and retail initiative is refreshingly (cold beer is delicious) literal. Those colours (colour me delighted to have the chance to drink delicious Asahi), silver and black, are the ones that the things on display actually have. Sculpture, cutlery, a lovely, meditative 3-D film of a skateboard ride, high-waisted knit underpants and origami blueprints are there to be looked at and maybe bought. It's hard to draw a line between the visually merchandised wares and the installed works, and that's part of the fun (fun like drinking Asahi) and the point.

Wabi-sabi is the other theme, and true to that, there's a Zen quality to what's on display that you'd have to share to not find terming it such a little embarrassingly cheesy. There's a consciousness of surface and an investigation of durability, functionality and the fitness of objects with the world. Also, there are vintage Asahi(!) promos and packaging, which are a retrospective on their own and directly addressed by some of the works.

NB: The show is curated by Asahi, not sponsored by them. I think this actually makes the promo aspect of it kinda cool? But maybe that's the Asahi talking.