Houses for Superstars
from 9 February to 15 March 2020Houses for Superstars
Hypermediated architecture
An art centre of national interest, the Villa Noailles presents from February 9 to March 15, 2020 an exhibition that deals with the hypermediatization of architecture through the prism of the houses of stars.
Labelled Maison des Illustres by the Ministry of Culture, the Villa Noailles itself embodies the fruitful collaboration between a renowned architect, Robert Mallet-Stevens, and equally famous sponsors, Charles and Marie-Laure de Noailles.
From the second half of the 20th century, stars became the equivalent of an untitled nobility, promoted by the media society. By becoming public figures, their lifestyles are examined and commented on in newspapers, radio, television and today on a multitude of online platforms. Stars embody the air of the times. Their bodies, attitudes and lifestyles are under constant scrutiny. As a result, they are capable of transgressing the norms and good taste of their time or, on the contrary, of reminding people of them. At the point of convergence of an individual and a network of representations, the star becomes a critical object and appears as a site of struggle for the definition of class, race and gender relations. As a political figure, she is in a position to question and transform the representations of domestic life.