François Dallegret's astrological automobiles: Occult commodities for France in the 1960s

At the Iris Clert gallery in 1962, Francois Dallegret exhibited twelve automobile designs, each of which was calibrated to accommodate a sign of the zodiac. The designs, at once futuristic and nostalgic, engaged some of the more intricate workings of commodity culture and class identity in mid-century France. This article compares Dallegret's series to developments in French popular culture (such as the growing fascination with the automobile), and reads his exhibition alongside contemporary theoretical investigations of astrology by figures like Theodor Adorno and Roland Barthes.