Refractive Style (detail), 2009. Photo: Anders Sune Berg 01/11

Shiny objects and flacons, old advertisements and books about perfume – at Pernille Kapper Williams’ solo exhibition, the history and aesthetics of perfume is presented to illustrate the role played by style and taste in our daily lives. In her art, Pernille Kapper Williams works with ordinary everyday items, and examines the way we use them, decorate them, and present ourselves through them.

Perfume tells a number of stories other than those we would immediately associate with the scent and the product. Kapper Williams is interested in the way that things always possess an excess of significance, which is extraneous to their function. Table of Contents shows decorative items from bygone days and times that elucidate the relationship between form and function. By delving into the materials – from the packaging and the bottles to the advertisements – Kapper Williams explores how functions are stylised, things are transformed into language, and meaning is displaced, as everyday items are given an extra layer of dream value.

Supported by the Danish Arts Council’s Committee for Visual Art and Grosserer L.F. Foghts Fond

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