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Frank Gehry designs Louis Vuitton handbag collection for Art Basel Miami Beach

2023-12-12T12:53:00-05:00

The 21st edition of Art Basel Miami Beach, which took place last week, featured a special capsule collection from Frank Gehry for Louis Vuitton. The latest in a string of creative product collaborations that have to date included a special fragrance bottle design and the 2014 'Iconoclasts' series contribution offers a “reinterpretation” of the brand’s iconic Capucines bag designed to encapsulate four themes: 'Architecture and Form,' 'Material Exploration,' 'Animals,' and the 'Twisted Box.'

Image courtesy Louis Vuitton.

“It is hard to adjust the existing Capucines shape, which is very strong. We had been working on that design graphically in 2D, and the images that we had made were compelling. I was skeptical that the architectural shape would be strong enough, though,” Gehry explained in Vogue. “The final bag not only got the sculptural feeling that I was looking for, but it also has the graphic quality that we liked.”

Image © Mario Kroes

The fluid fish motif Gehry has revisited tim...

Design Miami’s first Parisian edition canceled due to 'security problems'

2022-08-01T19:31:00-04:00

Authorities in Paris have put the kibosh on Design Miami’s first Parisian edition after police there cited a lack of security at its planned site, the historic Place de la Concorde.

The concern led to the July 29th denial of permit issuance by the city’s new police chief Laurent Nunez, who extended his predecessor Didier Lallement’s decision from a month prior on the grounds that the area would present “security problems.” As reported in Le Monde, a source familiar with the case feels the real culprit is a fear of France’s Gilets Jaunes, or Yellow Vest protesters, who previously sparred with police in the same location in a series of public demonstrations that turned violent near the end of 2018.

As a result, the fair’s organizers announced they will be forced to cancel the October event, stating that “the timeline has proved too short to proceed this Autumn.” Organizers also confirmed each exhibitor will be given a full refund and that they are working to find an alternative locati...

Zaha Hadid Architects' NFTism exhibition at Art Basel Miami proposes a new standard in digital architecture and the metaverse

2021-12-03T19:36:00-05:00

As Art Basel Miami Beach draws to a close this weekend, the twin buzzwords of NFTs and the metaverse have been left ringing throughout the convention hall with the notion that the oft-dismissed digital art platform will invariably become an art fair mainstay as the critical acceptance of the works and their medium continues to grow.

Going into this year’s rendition, many attendees and other interested observers were eager to see how Big A architecture might respond to the new mandate for metaverse spaces with showcase designs that offer real-world locations to host and display the blockchain technology.

Image courtesy Zaha Hadid Architects

Zaha Hadid Architects took up the mantle with a virtual gallery that houses a dynamic multi-artist exhibition its curator compared, favorably, to a Trojan Horse. The studio says its spatial design focuses on the user’s experience and interaction with one another along with the theatrical presentation of the virtual exhibition itself.

Image courtes...

Editor's Picks #318

2013-06-05T01:58:00-04:00

Evan Chakroff penned Art Basel comes to Hong Kong a report wherein Mr. Chakroff analyzed "During the yearly art fair in Basel, Switzerland, the city is activated and reconfigured, and art is brought to the forefront of civic discourse. What, if any, impact could the fair have on daily life in a city of 7 million? How would this art world mega-event translate to the Hong Kong context?"...

News
Orhan Ayyüce drew our attention to #occupygezi in Istanbul where mass protests and battles are still raging over the government plans to build a "Shopping Mall” on the site of an historic civic park.

Parad0xx86 shared "I was in Besiktas and Taksim today. Taksim is like a total war zone with windows smashed, cars turned upside down, beer cans all over the streets..All the buildings have anti-Tayyip graffitis. There are thousands of people in Taksim right now and they aren't going anywhere". mantaray pointed out "that NPR interviewed protesters today, and one of them turned out to be an a...