For the past 30 years, Haim Steinbach has been exploring the theme of the shelf, that humble device used for the display of objects. Like a contemporary archaeologist, he uses shelves to present things taken from daily life. His works underline the aesthetic aspects of the objects, somehow highlighting each element’s erotic value. The artist’s decision to display similar items side by side, arranged according to the objects’ social or cultural connotations, is intended to provoke what Steinbach terms “psychological anxiety” and to question the nature of contemporary fetishes. Steinbach’s works are designed for specific exhibition spaces, sometimes responding to existing signs and sometimes contradicting the site with a kind of visual interference.
From an online publication of The Castello di Rivoli.