When talking about Ikea I never know if I should talk about a store or an art/museum of everyday objects. What is the difference anyway? Ikea is a a place constructed upon specific concepts: visual imaging of a reality displayed through order, structure, domesticity, beauty and, ultimately, about consumption. Entering Ikea is a pretty strange experience. First, you are introduced to the fantastic world of swedish design (at a low price!) through an initial explanation on paper. How you enter the space, how you walk through it, how you shop and yes, on how you pay! The interior is pretty easy to understand due to the fact that what you see is nothing more than the domestic reality of your own everyday. One path takes you systematically through the entire "yellow and Blue Box" in a journey from the inside out. From the living room to the kitchen, fom the office to children furniture, from inside your home to its outside with the gardening section with tools, plants and gadgets. Ikea IS your home, your psychological domesticscape. You are guided through the space with the only available path: a red arrow on the ground forces you to go in one direction. The interesting thing about Ikea is that you never get lost. You always know what the next thing is going to be, since it is your hypothetical home you are walking in. But yet, you will find yourself totally lost in time and space. You never have a clue if you are heading north or south. The outside world is for you totally inexistent. Ikea is a work of genius. A museum of everyday life design. A place where you can test the "sculptures" to feel them, to compare them with your personal taste, A chair is a chair, no matter if you see it or not, a chair is always easy to picutre and contextualize. Unlike a painting, where each one of us (hopefully) will subjectivize the meaning behind it. But Ikea is a place where a chair isn't always a chair. A place where a chair becomes the ultimate piece of art within your museum of the everyday. And, unlike a museum, you can pick up the "everyday work of art and desing" along the way, and at the end you'll pay and go. Maybe to eat some scary swedish meatballs before heading home. And the strange part of this entire trip is the same for everybody: you go to Ikea to buy a set of plates and you go home with a four door cabinet with the strangest name on earth! And that's the entire point of Ikea. You walk through your home and see what's missing...and let me tell you...they just know that something is missing.
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