 |
Wednesday, 4 October 2006 | Senay
The Birth of the Louis Vuitton Foundation for Creation in Paris
in a Building Designed by Frank Gehry
Bernard Arnault, President of LVMH Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy, and Yves Carcelle, President of Louis Vuitton, announce the birth of the Louis Vuitton Foundation for Creation.
:: Watch the video
The birth of this Foundation is in line with the 15-year commitment of LVMH and Louis Vuitton to promote culture, heritage and contemporary creation, especially through 26 exhibits sponsored by the Group in France. The Louis Vuitton Foundation for Creation gives a new dimension to this approach and will be sited in the Jardin d'Acclimatation, an exceptional Paris location.
The site characterized by its universal calling will be designed by Frank Gehry, the world-renowned architect and author of many exceptional projects including the famous Guggenheim Museum of Bilbao and the DZ Bank Building in Berlin.
Frank Gehry: "I am enthusiastic about designing a magnificent vessel in Paris that will symbolize France's devotion to culture".
Frank Gehry has said: "I am particularly honored that Bernard Arnault and Yves Carcelle chose me to design and carry out the architectural project for this Foundation which will give concrete expression to years of exceptional patronage from LVMH and Louis Vuitton in favor of arts and artists from all walks of life.
This is a major decision for the world of Art and I am enthusiastic about designing a magnificent vessel in Paris that will symbolize France's devotion to culture".
Bernard Arnault: "Creating an exceptional bond between Art and Culture, taking up the challenge of daring and emotion".
Bernard Arnault continued: "With the Louis Vuitton Foundation for Creation, we wanted to create an exceptional venue for Art and Culture in Paris. It will be driven by what has always been our Group's motivation: classicism and a break with the past, tradition and innovation. Planned at the heart of an exceptional site that is both open and full of life - the Jardin d'Acclimatation in Paris - the Foundation takes up the challenge of daring and emotion, having commissioned architect Frank Gehry to design a building that will symbolize the 21st century. This new construction will place creation at the heart of the city, open dialogue with wider audience and provide artists and intellectuals with a platform for debate and reflection.
This ambitious project is also part of the art patronage tradition of LVMH, the leading private art patron in France, and Louis Vuitton. The cornerstone of the Group's strategy and economic plan, art patronage according to LVMH is based on the same values of innovation and excellence that guide all our Companies.
Today, we are happy to share our passion for Creation with a wider public through a useful undertaking".
Yves Carcelle: "Inviting the public to a journey at the heart of Creation"
Yves Carcelle, President of Louis Vuitton, stated: "I am happy that Louis Vuitton is today lending its name to a Foundation for Creation. Through its history as well as through the values that it personifies, our Company has always cultivated a close connection with contemporary creation. With the passing centuries, our Company has reinvented itself to become the number one luxury brand in the world, a symbol of the French way of life and elegance. Creation has always been one of the driving forces behind our success.
Open to the world, our Company absorbed contemporary influences. The recent collaboration between Marc Jacobs and Takashi Murakami shows this fruitful interplay of ideas between art and fashion.
As for our Champs-Elysées store, it has introduced art and culture into our visible universe, in close proximity with our visitors.
We hope to encourage creative expression in its most diverse forms. The public will be invited to journey to the very heart of creation in the general sense of the term and we hope that as many of these travellers as possible will identify themselves with it".
The philosophy of the Louis Vuitton Foundation
This is a Foundation that symbolizes Louis Vuitton's permanent commitment to encourage creation. It is also a corporate Foundation, whose activity will directly and closely interact with the business of the world's leading luxury goods brand. Previous examples of success in this area include providing a broader canvass for our designer Marc Jacob's talent by associating his development with such leading contemporary artists as Takashi Murakami and Bob Wilson.
As a corporate Foundation, the Louis Vuitton Foundation for Creation will develop its efforts in close collaboration with the French government and the Ministry of Culture and Communication will be directly associated with the project. The Foundation has already established an in-depth dialogue with the City of Paris concerning its construction site inside the Jardin d'Acclimatation.
A universal calling
The mission of the Louis Vuitton Foundation for Creation is to introduce the art patronage policy in a geographically identifiable universe by building multiple bridges between heritage, youth, creation and innovation. It is intended to defend a vision of the world that encompasses the past, present and future and to use works of art, installations and questions to redefine what opens the path to new ideals, esthetics of time undergoing full transformation. Artists transform the world with the force of their presence, breaking down the frontiers of time and space, reinventing the language of forms, whose energy has the greatest power of communication. This intuition of the future takes hold of a unique place, a vector of emotions, international meetings, relations and utopias worthy of encouraging the best that the future has to offer, the essence of beauty and all its transformations.
Open to everyone, the Louis Vuitton Foundation for Creation is intended to break down barriers between the general public, especially the younger public, and art. By promoting meetings with those who make art live today, by creating new channels of information and by making art and culture more accessible, the Foundation places creation at the heart of its project, as a vector of learning, education and social and cultural dialogue. Its presence in the Jardin d'Acclimatation, a legendary location that has been a long-time favorite for visitors of all ages, will contribute to this new dimension.
Promoting the cultural and artistic influence of France
The creation of the Louis Vuitton Foundation is the first of its kind in France. It results from the fusion of two ambitions: the long-standing commitment of France to promote the arts, civilizations and cultural exchanges and that of Louis Vuitton and LVMH who have been the Country's key players in art patronage since 1991.
France did not have a major corporate Foundation in an exceptional location. This Foundation will be the radiant expression of the dual commitment and joint ambition to establish a connection between the corporate world and its cultural environment. It represents the accomplished undertaking of both companies to promote the cultural influence of France throughout the world.
A great ambition
The project of the Louis Vuitton Foundation for Creation is based on a great ambition. The goal is to introduce the widest possible audience to 20th and 21st century art and to the great Masters of the past through exhibits featuring their significant works. This approach will be complemented by other efforts (research and documentation center, innovative teaching programs) and an original policy for commissioning artists will further contribute to shape the singularity of this endeavor.
The architectural project
One of the most imaginative designs by Frank Gehry. Like a vessel among the trees, open to nature, the building imagined by Frank Gehry expresses the spirit of the perpetually evolving Foundation and marks a new phase in the architect's style. It is designed to be permanently reinvented, in step with its exhibits and special events. In osmosis with the environment, it embodies respiration between inner and outer space.
These dynamics will carry into the very gardens that surround the building thanks to educational activities and the participation of artists.
The Jardin d'Acclimatation: an exceptional site
At the heart of the Bois de Boulogne, the Jardin d'Acclimatation is a familiar fixture of Parisian life. From the time its doors were opened under the Second Empire, the garden has served as a place of discovery and wonder.
With the support of the City of Paris, the Louis Vuitton Foundation for Creation has founded a strikingly visible, international center for the arts, adding a major architectural statement to the French capital. Located at the Northern end of the Bois de Boulogne, Frank Gehry's building rises from its natural and urban environment as if by magic, harmoniously blending into the established balance between the park, the garden, the river, the skies and the city.
|
|
|
