The 25th anniversary of 9/11 approaches—smoke ’em if you’ve got ’em.
The sensory takeover of the venue and the provocation of the proposed Gesamtkunstwerk don’t just transcend the idea of a gallery; they convert the space into proving grounds, a templum under the auspices of RIVINGTON roi Rebis—or whichever alias the designer chooses to deploy.

Before you step inside, there’s visual and olfactory evidence that a transgressive act is afoot. Seemingly orderly and compliant with social and legal authority, a series of metamodern ashtrays populate the stage. Gridded, abject, and attractive at once, they merge with design and décor (art vs. product?) as the scene grows from limbic to entertainment to participation—whether by smoking, leaving, watching, multiplying yourself in mirrors, thinking about style and behavior, or building a wardrobe. Shopping—why you’re really here—still smoking.

From être amoureux to Thanatos, mass culture tutors us in appetite and risk; the events of 9/11 extend that lesson. The point here is not endorsement—of smoking, terrorism, capitalism, Americanism, or any other “-ism”—but to mark the exponential growth of the absurd persuasion.

It should not be immediately clear that the ashtrays are scale approximations of the Freedom Tower, deployed at scale (number-wise) as product. With an edition of 9 + II, steady growth and progress stand as one possible answer to the questions above.


—Eric Wesley, Standard Modeling (Sept 10th 2025)