A creative journey related to "&"
「&」
An interesting symbol.
It appears very frequently in modern life, and both the user and the reader can intuitively apply and appreciate its meaning. But we rarely seem to delve into what "&" really is.
In Chinese, "&" can be interpreted as "and", "and", "and", "and"; in English, "&" is pronounced ampersand. This special symbol was born long before the 19th century, and with the iteration of the writing system, although the letters and the connecting characters between the letters were gradually changing, the "&" character represented the meaning of "and" and has been used to this day.
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In 2021, the Louis Vuitton brand used the ancient character "&" as a clue to hold LOUIS VUITTON & exhibitions (#LouisVuittonAnd) in several cities around the world. Like the history of the character "&", this exhibition aims to present the brand's colorful history of creative exchange and artistic cooperation for more than 160 years. And the communication of "and" different objects represents an infinite number of unknown possibilities. This exhibition landed in Shenzhen, when the character aesthetics meet the gentleman under the oriental tradition of "harmony and difference", it is also a spark between the classic and the modern.
Please scroll down the screen, the journey of creativity and immersion about "&" is about to begin.
At the entrance to the exhibition, a digital version of Louis Vuitton's portrait by Chinese artist Cao Fei is on display. In the 3D animated short film, monochromatic color blocks shaped like mosaics gradually converge to finally stitch together a cartoon portrait of Louis Vuitton. Constructing gradually evolving works by means of video lenses, theatrical stages, and technical media has always been Cao Fei's creative method of excellence.
As we know, 2021 is known as the "First Year of the Meta-Universe", and Cao Fei's works presented in the exhibition this time have no shortage of immersive experiences that combine reality and virtuality, as the opening of the exhibition, which is intended to pay tribute to the spirit of innovation, which is another crystallization of the cooperation between brands and artists in the past century.
Mr. Louis By Cao Fei
On display in Hall 2 are contemporary portrait artists Yan Peiming and Alex Katz, as well as digital artist Refik Anadol's work, the self-reliant and spirited young Louis Vuitton.
In 1837, two years after leaving his hometown of Jura, Louis Vuitton arrived in Paris at the age of 16. He first apprenticed under a famous hard box packing and production master, and in the following ten years, he persevered in his skills and eventually became a recognized master of hard box manufacturing, bringing about changes in the entire luggage industry. In 1854, Louis Vuitton decided to become self-reliant and opened his first shop at 4 Rue Neuve Des Capucines in Paris.
At the same time, Louis Vuitton not only works closely with Charles Frederic Worth, an innovator in the field of haute couture, but also tailors the hard box for artists in many fields to protect their works. In 1924, the art dealer René Gimpel specially customized a Louis Vuitton hard box specifically designed to protect precious works of art during the transatlantic journey.
In 2018, the brand, in collaboration with the Rijksmuseum, created a special hard case for the preservation of Vermeer's legendary painting The Maid Pouring Milk for its journey from Amsterdam to Tokyo. In this exhibition hall, visitors will have the opportunity to get a closer look at the hard boxes that once guarded the works of art.
In this exhibition hall, where wallpapers were specially created by contemporary artist Xu Bing, visitors can get a glimpse of the origins of the brand and its collaborations with artists from different fields. The exhibits are divided into two categories: merchandise and visual display windows by graphic artists such as Pierre-Emile Legrain, a renowned French designer of the Art Deco era, and fashion shows such as the Spring/Summer 2011 collection and the Fall/Winter 2012 collection by Marc Jacobs, louis vuitton's former artistic director.
In addition, the brand and Xu Bing cooperated with Xu Bing to create a special customized hard box for the four treasures of the study room, and the exclusive order card of Chinese architect I.M. Pei and movie star Huang Liushuang were also exhibited in this exhibition hall.