Abstract:
This paper examines contemporary architecture and art that mimics the processes or physical
spaces of commerce. Examples of the first include Adam Kalkin Day trader and the fictional Ingold
Airlines, both art projects that made a profit through their imitation of business processes. An
example of the second type is Guillaume Bijl's reproductions of corporate and retail spaces, the
most ambitious being the installation of a Tesco supermarket in the Liverpool Tate. The motivations
for the widespread mimicry of commerce are examined here with reference to the art museum's
desire to incorporate that which is not already in the collection as argued by BorisGrays, These
insights are extended here beyond the art institution and towards addressing the consequences
of techniques of mimicry for the urban environment. The paper concludes that the city is intensified
and doubled as a signifying and economic surface as a result of the coincidence of commerce
and art, and of advertising and architecture.
