Christian Ragot – « Objets hors quarantaine ». Intime collection

From October 4 to November 30, 2003, Casino Luxembourg organises a major exhibition around the work of Christian Ragot. From the end of the 1960s until today, it will describe the uncommon career of this French designer who works on the brink of institutional design. It is the first time that such an important number of his objects will be shown together within an exhibition.The main thread linking Christian Ragot's works is characterised by his playful artistic attitude as regards the conception of functional objects. In their turn, the latter eventually reflect the playful eye of their conceiver, and thereby overstep their actual functional role. "I borrow from the hawkers, the tumblers, the vagrants, the gypsies and the nomads an attitude unusual in institutional design: that which consists to go meet know-how and to favour a direct relationship in order to demystify our roles." (Christian Ragot, 2000) 

Christian Ragot realises his works in accordance with the motto of the permanent "avant-garde", which he implements by observation and by constant questioning of lifestyles, as well as by the use of "new" materials, such as thermally moulded plastics, foams of every kind, PVC etc. He does not, however, strive to integrate high technology at every cost. As a matter of fact, his field is rather that of "soft-tech": he modifies in some way the material emerging from the industrial design to place it into a domestic frame, thus creating moments of surprise and "hesitations".Another aspect of his proceedings consists of his taking pictures of his objects himself. He "puts them into condition" (often an unexpected one), i.e. outside their primary functional context, hereby conferring on them a supplementary, poetical value. Christian Ragot blurs the visible limits between art and design. The distance with regard to his design production encourages the spectator to let free course to his/her own imagination and, thereby, to take an active position in respect of the work.The exhibition at the Casino Luxembourg endeavors to demonstrate Christian Ragot's visionary ideas through a selection of some of his most important objects like, for example, Sas gonflable - transitory and nomadic - presented at the Salon des Artistes Décorateurs in 1985, or Alcôve 2000bis, a yardstick in the history of design (the original piece, Alcôve 2000, was presented at the Salon des Artistes Décorateurs in 1969 and forms part of the collection of FNAC - Centre Pompidou, Paris). Recent and inedited objects, such as the oval table Monica and other works belonging to table culture, emphasise Christian Ragot's original design.