I am awed by the Van Cleef & Arpels traveling exhibition. But alas, I can only look at photos.
My colleague Zhengyuan saw this exhibit twice. Once while it was on view in NY at the Smithsonian Cooper-Hewitt (where it was called Set in Style) and then again when it moved to MOCA Shanghai (where its name was changed to Timeless Beauty). (When it was on view in Tokyo it had yet another name, Spirit of Beauty.)
Zhengyuan shared photos of the MOCA Shanghai exhibit:
She described the exhibit, “they didn't move the entire exhibit set to Shanghai, but there were some new displays, like the octopus-like structure. The space is very dark ... and the sparkling bubble glass displays make it look like an underwater world!” She thought both versions were fantastic.
The designers, Patrick Jouin, explain: “for this exhibition we wanted the visitors to lose all sense of time, to open a door onto an imaginary world. The nature theme, which is a major source of inspiration for Van Cleef & Arpels, has also influenced the scenography. The pieces in the exhibition are presented in gigantic glass drops. In order to create a sensual and mysterious installation, we have used various types of illusions.”
The photos below are from the Cooper-Hewitt exhibit, taken by Matt Flynn, © Smithsonian Institution:
While both exhibit versions used the bubble glass cases, the Cooper-Hewitt’s version seemed more traditional than MOCA Shanghai’s. Less octopus-structure and more tables and wall vitrines. I’m curious what challenges the designers had to address as they designed an exhibit for travel to four different countries (Japan, the US, Shanghai, and France). In all its iterations, it is a gorgeous exhibition.
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Post updated in January 2021 with minor text edits. Broken links have been fixed. This post was originally published at theexhibitdesigner.com on 21 June 2012.