The idea is to die young as late as possible. — Ashley Montagu — Tuesday September 9th — —

I love listening. It is one of the only spaces where you can be still and moved at the same time. — Nayyirah Waheed — Tuesday September 9th — —

“What art does — maybe what it does most completely — is tell us, make us feel that what we think we know, we don’t. There are whole worlds around us that we’ve never glimpsed.” Greil Marcus — Tuesday September 9th — —

Culture Chanel — DDP

On the 29th of August a new inspirational Culture CHANEL exhibition opened, the successor of the exhibition in Paris last year, this time in the highly impressive Dongdaemun Design Plaza in Seoul, Korea. Each of the exhibition’s ten sequences, which were curated by Jean-Louis Froment, acts as a particular landmark in Mademoiselle Chanel’s life story. More than 500 pieces including photographs, books, objects, manuscripts, archives and artworks along with fashion, jewelry, watch and perfume creations retrace the life story of the legendary designer who left an enduring mark on her time. In a stunning and therefore very fit context the exhibition retraces the fascinating adventures of the designer and her brand whose language undeniably still is synonymous with modernity and creativity.

Culture CHANEL tends to reveal to the public the foundations of the brand through the unique life of Gabrielle ‘Coco’ Chanel, emphasizing her links with the artists she supported and that nurtured her creativity.

Often linked to romantic liaisons, the places visited within this latest Culture CHANEL exhibition in Seoul, draft out a Map of Tendre, a journey through Coco’s secret twists and turns, located in another beacon of modernity: the Dongdaemun Design Plaza, designed by the great architect Zaha Hadid. All the locations which were included in the exhibition: Saumur, Brive, Aubazine, Moulins, Royallieu, Paris, Deauville, Venice, Biarritz, Roquebrune, Eaton Hall, Hollywood and New York are figments of which Chanel retained just the outlines, finally her unique experience of each would then be transposed into her work, which is beautifully captured in the inspirational overview.

Curator Jean-Louis Froment has a long history within art curation and for one was responsible for the creation of the contemporary art museum, CAPC, in Bordeaux, which he headed from 1973 until 1996. Through rich and unique dialogues shared with such major artists as Simon Hantaï, Mario Merz, Daniel Buren, Richard Serra, Lawrence Weiner, Richard Long, Sol LeWitt and Wolfgang Laib, Froment has continually summoned artwork to act as a form of resistance and subversiveness, in its capacity to oppose blandness and the commonplace. The Frenchman has equally curated large international exhibitions stemming from all modern forms of art, and also from architecture, literature, the body in action and fashion making him the perfect guide in this beautiful new chapter on the ever-inspirational Coco Chanel.

The Culture Chanel exhibition in the DDP will run until October 5th, 2014.

For more information see here.