During the vibrant Art Week of Mexico City, a unique collaboration takes shape in Audette’s boutique, uniting contemporary art and cutting-edge design.

Visual artist Marilou Poncin partners with Audette, the independent handbag label, to present an immersive installation titled « One Way Mirror: Dialogue Between audette and Marilou Poncin ». This project transforms the boutique into a sensorial environment where art and design engage in a dynamic conversation.

The title, « One Way Mirror », plays a pivotal role here, symbolizing how perception is directed and limited by perspective. This reflective surface allows observation in one direction while concealing the other, inviting the viewer to question their position as an observer and participant within the space.

This notion resonates deeply with the installation’s exploration of vision—both literal and metaphorical—and its inherently oriented nature. The work invites viewers to reflect on the importance of perspective, a central theme for both Marilou Poncin and Audette.

The installation seamlessly integrates Poncin’s sculptures and soundscape with Audette’s boutique environment, resulting in an immersive setting that stimulates all the senses. Lighting and scenography play a central role, blurring the boundaries between art, design, and architecture. By merging tactile forms with sonic and visual elements, the installation offers visitors an evocative experience, encouraging them to rethink their relationship with objects and spaces.

This collaboration is emblematic of Spiaggia Libera’s mission to foster innovative dialogues between artists and external creatives. By situating Poncin’s work in a non-traditional context, the project challenges conventional modes of exhibition- making, reaching diverse audiences and creating new forms of engagement.

Set against the backdrop of Mexico City’s « creative chaos », the project celebrates the fluid exchange of ideas between disciplines and cultures. It underscores the city’s role as a hub for artistic experimentation, where boundaries between art, design, and life dissolve. Through this partnership, Marilou Poncin and Audette invite visitors to explore new dimensions of materiality, form, and expression in a captivating and transformative setting. design, and life dissolve. Through this partnership, Marilou Poncin and Audette invite visitors to explore new dimensions of materiality, form, and expression in a captivating and transformative setting.

This idea extends seamlessly into the materiality of the project. The use of vitrophanie—where an image reveals itself depending on the orientation of light— echoes the play of transparency and opacity central to the mirror’s metaphor. Within the boutique, this interaction of light and material becomes a visual manifestation of the dialogue between inside and outside, self and other. The boutique’s interior reflects the artist’s imaginative universe, a space populated by fragments of photographs, splashes of paint, and tactile materials that embody Poncin’s creative process. Her ceramics, featuring reclining, dreamlike female figures, find their place within this chaotic harmony, inviting viewers to engage with the layered imagery.

The soundscape, a central element of the installation, furthers this interplay of perception and intimacy. A subaquatic breathing sound—a distinctly feminine rhythm—envelops the space, transforming it into a meditative environment. The voyeuristic experience of observing these sleeping women through the « one-way mirror » heightens the installation’s exploration of desire, gaze, and boundaries between public and private.

Marilou Poncin’s work resonates with Audette’s ethos of innovation and creative experimentation.

Known for exploring our fantasies as shaped by technology, Poncin constructs phantasmagorical worlds populated by camgirls, avatars, and influencers, reflecting the collective desires and prejudices of contemporary society. Her multidisciplinary approach, combining video installation, sculpture, ceramics, and painting, creates tactile and intimate experiences that invite viewers to interact with the imagery and forms she presents.

Audette, founded by French duo Aude Jan and Charles Gout, redefines the traditional handbag through vibrant designs and unconventional shapes.

Rooted in Parisian technical mastery and inspired by the creative energy of Mexico City, Audette’s creations transcend functionality to become objects of design and self-expression. The label’s identity, built on bold contrasts and futuristic aesthetics, offers the perfect counterpoint to Marilou Poncin’s artistic language.