The exhibition title is self-explanatory: leisurely examination of shop windows or merchandise without an actual intent to buy anything is becoming a common pastime. Konstantin Sterkhov brilliantly recreates the texture of various fabrics: we almost feel the softness of expensive cashmere, the luxury of furs and silks. However, this opulence barely hides the artist’s inner concerns about the people’s dissatisfaction caused by their constant chase after material objects. The artist muses on our need to grow emotionally and overcome our shared immaturity: after all, we are not running any serious chances of becoming a better version of ourselves after yet another purchase.

For Konstantin Sterkhov, the transparency of a shop window takes on a symbolic meaning. The transparent glass appears to divide the world in two halves: the ‘life’ of the mannequins seems placid and constant as opposed to the entropy and chaos of our everyday. Probably it is this unattainable perfection that forces us to spend hours roaming through shopping malls. Standing in front of a shop window, each of us becomes an object of observation: we scrutinise the mannequins while they watch us, giving rise to the duality that Konstantin Sterkhov explores in his art. At times his dummies look so much like real people that one can’t help seeing them as the reflection of a modern-day man — a coldhearted biobot jaded by the endless newsfeed whose intellect is stored somewhere in the World Wide Web.