It's sleek in white fiberglass, erected in modules and looks like
it's built to last, but Zaha Hadid's moving—in the sense of
transportable-- exhibition space, conceived at the Mercer Hotel with
Karl Lagerfeld as a tribute to Chanel's 2.55 quilted bag will move to
London and Paris after its sold out stint in Central Park. As you
enter, you are given a headset with the French icon Jeanne Moreau
instructing your every move, from space to space, projection to
projection, with sexy-voiced platitudes about art, form, vision,lifestyle.
A corridor where you sit beside a stream with reflections
of Parisian buildings accented with Chanel awnings has Ms. Moreau
telling you she loves seeing things reflected, in pools, in mirrors,
encouraging your reflected narcissism. Projected images of flowers
with pronounced pistils, a naked Asian woman in all manner of legs
akimbo, tied loosely with the leather looped chain of a Chanel 2.55
bag suggests the relation of "purse" with genitalia so well
deconstructed by Daphne Merkin in a New York Times Style magazine
piece several years ago announcing the power purse's ascension to
must-have accessory over power pumps. A set of six packing boxes
contains images: nudes competing for, rafting upon the purse, with Ms.
Moreau suggesting we embrace absurdity. A large coffin-sized purse
houses a video, horseshoes configured to the Chanel logo—you cannot
miss the product placement, the nexus of art and consumer culture. And
finally, you are invited to empty your purse, write your wish on paper
and tie it to a tree. This being difficult economic times, emptying
one's purse has new meaning: while the coveted Chanel 2.55 is indeed
as classic as Moreau herself, surely a sound investment, it seems an
all the more ironic last luxury. This also being the day before
elections, I wished for Barack Obama's swift and unquestionable
victory, and then in the manner of "Miss Congeniality,"
I wished for World Peace
Comments