Fondation Louis Vuitton, Building in Paris by Frank Gehry - Con l'intervento di Daniel Buren
- Place
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Espace Louis Vuitton Venezia
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Calle del Ridotto, 1353 30124
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Venise – Italie
- Phone
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Tél. +39 041 8844318
A dream come true for Paris
This exhibition retraces the story of this dream, offering an immersion into the creative world of the Canadian-American architect, who was awarded the prestigious Pritzker Architecture Prize in 1989.
The exhibition presents a selection of scale models created during the project by the Gehry Partners Studio. They are organized by groups to retrace studies for various aspects of the building: integration in the site, architectural program, project design, interior spaces, the “icebergs” and the glass sails. Prepared at the request of Bernard Arnault, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the LVMH Group and Chairman of the Fondation Louis Vuitton, this exhibition was conceived by Frank Gehry’s teams in close collaboration with the Fondation. The models are grouped to evoke schools of fish, a favorite symbol of Mr. Gehry.
« I dream of designing a magnificent vessel for Paris that symbolizes France’s profound cultural vocation »
The works seem to float in a liquid atmosphere, with dynamic movement imparted by an astonishing video that was shot using drones to offer a non-anthropometric vision of the building. The itinerary proposed to visitors reflects the building itself, replete with detours and discoveries. It invites an immersion into Frank Gehry’s project for an intimate discovery of this monument, which enriches the extraordinary architectural heritage of Paris.
Initially unveiled in Paris for the inauguration of the Fondation Louis Vuitton, the exhibition has been specially redesigned by Gehry Partners for the exhibition space in Venezia at Calle del Ridotto, just a few steps from Piazza San Marco. This traveling exhibition, which is part of a program of events organized by the Fondation entitled “Beyond the Walls”, presents the building’s stunning architecture, as well as other activities at the Fondation, which as of March of this year had already welcomed over a million and a half visitors. This spring in Paris, the Fondation will unveil a spectacular creation by the artist Daniel Buren on its 12 sails, proposing a new and striking perception of the building. To echo this work and take advantage of the glass roof here, Daniel Buren has designed a special installation for the Venezia exhibition space. Screens that illustrate the richly varied artistic program, including temporary exhibitions with a contemporary or historical perspective, are joined by hangings of the Fondation collection and concerts in the Auditorium.
This artistic activity expresses both the vocation of the Fondation and the underlying vision of Frank Gehry and Bernard Arnault, who figure at the origin of this new monument offered to Parisians and visitors from the world over, a monument that is already emblematic of creativity for the 21st century. The project was made possible thanks to the corporate patronage of the LVMH Group and its Houses, notably Louis Vuitton, support that reflects the values shared by all the employees and shareholders of the Group. The Fondation Louis Vuitton testifies to a passion and to an optimistic élan that offers an invitation to a “journey of creativity”. Quite simply, the Fondation is a dream come true.
THE ARTIST
Frank Gehry
Raised in Toronto, Canada, Frank Gehry moved with his family to Los Angeles in 1947. He received his Bachelor of Architecture degree from the University of Southern California in 1954 and studied City Planning at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design before opening his own agency in Los Angeles in 1962.
In subsequent years, Gehry has built an architectural career that has spanned over six decades and produced public and private buildings in America, Europe and Asia. His work has earned Gehry several of the most significant awards in the architectural field, including the Pritzker Prize. Notable projects include Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain; Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, California, USA; Eight Spruce Street Residential Tower in New York City, USA; Opus Residential Tower in Hong Kong; Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris, France; the Dr. Chau Chak Wing Building for the University of Technology, in Sydney, Australia; the Louis Vuitton Maison Seoul, South Korea; the LUMA / Parc des Ateliers in Arles, France. Projects under construction include Philadelphia Museum of Art in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Facebook Campus in Menlo Park, California, USA; the Grand Avenue Project in Los Angeles, California, USA; a new centre for the Youth Orchestra Los Angeles (YOLA) in Inglewood, California, USA; the Dwight D. Eisenhower Memorial in Washington D.C., USA; and the Battersea Power Station Development in London, England.
Daniel Buren
For five decades, Daniel Buren has been reinventing the forms of and issues surrounding the pictorial medium in a radical body of work that draws on a method he began defining in the 1960s.
The discovery of a specific striped curtain fabric in 1965 marked a major turning point in his practice. Attracted to the ordinariness of this industrial product, he saw in it the possibility to approach art in an impersonal way and reduce his pictorial intervention to its simplest expression in order to achieve what he refers to as “degree zero of painting.” Buren produced a series of works with the pattern as background, to which he applied a layer of white acrylic paint in pre-defined areas.
