Saâdane Afif Old Hoover Convertible, Old Shelton Wet/Dry 10 Gallon Doubledecker, 2025

The Old brings together three works created in 2025 that directly reference Jeff Koons’ seminal series The New (1979–1987). In Koons’ original installations, immaculate and freshly manufactured vacuum cleaners were displayed within illuminated Plexiglas vitrines, transformed into icons of purity and consumer desire. Untouched by time, they appeared suspended in a state of perpetual newness, their pristine surfaces asserting an almost devotional faith in technological progress and the promises of modernity.

Nearly half a century later, Afif revisits these same models, seeking them out not as untouched commodities but as everyday objects that have undergone the long, unpredictable journey of use, wear, and obsolescence. The vacuum cleaners he sourced bear the unmistakable traces of time: scratches, discoloration, dents, and evidence of repeated handling. Afif places these aged machines in carefully reconstructed replicas of Koons’ original vitrines, creating a pointed dialogue between past and present, ideal and real.

By appropriating and inverting Koons’ concept, Afif prompts viewers to reflect on universal themes—most notably the passage of time, the erosion of material perfection, and the futility of preserving anything, whether object or idea, in a state of eternal newness. The Old suggests that even artworks, which we often imagine as timeless, are subject to shifting interpretations and must be continually revived through new encounters, perspectives, and cultural contexts.