Valérie Belin's (b. 1964, Boulogne-Billancourt) shop windows series multiply the paradoxes of presence and absence. These outdated store fronts are frozen, illusory and vain and thus call into question the notions of display, reflection and illusion. Given artistic form by the eye of the photographer, they are transformed into icons of society.

The Vitrines Luxembourg series by Valérie Belin was commissioned by Mudam in 2003. The black and white prints, which are characteristic of Belin’s work in their precision and eye for detail, are reminiscent of the Parisian shop fronts photographed by Eugène Atget (1857-1927). The subtle play of reflections in the shop windows enables the artist to place them within the reality of their urban environment. Empty of all human presence, these photographs are not intended to generate a particular narrative, rather they attempt to underline a certain tension between that emptiness and the surrounding hustle and bustle around a shop front. A gap is created between the atmosphere of timelessness that emanates from the images and the fact that they were only recently shot. Through them, Belin questions notions of presentation, mirror and illusion.