Looking at the Mobile Art pavilion currently stationed in central Hong Kong’s Star Ferry Car Park is kind of like looking at a limited edition Chanel handbag. You know you shouldn’t be staring in that gauche way, but you can’t help yourself. Nestled near Hong Kong harbour, with the city’s iconic skyscrapers seemingly standing guard, the white, segmented cocoon is a giant travelling tribute to Chanel’s signature quilted bag, and a container that holds the efforts of 20 celebrated artists from around the world.
More than two years ago, the French fashion house had commissioned Pritzker Prize-winning architect Zaha Hadid to build a travelling museum or, as curator Fabrice Bousteau describes it, “A sort of passing UFO that lands for a number of weeks in the middle of some of the largest cities in Asia, the US and Europe.” Bousteau had the task of commissioning artists to create works in a medium of their choice. They had complete freedom, but there was one specification: Use the quilted 2.55 bag as inspiration. This now iconic handbag (one of the first to feature a shoulder strap which left the wearer’s hands free) was a hit when it was launched by Coco Chanel in 1955.
Experiencing the show is like moving through a 3D film; very often, it is voyeuristic, like walking through someone’s home without them knowing. An MP3 player given to each guest provides the soundtrack. It features the husky, cigarette-and-whisky-aged voice of French actor Jeanne Moreau who, like an authoritative dominatrix, guides you through the show. Actually, orders would be a more accurate term. At times she tells you to move forward when you want to stop and ruminate on a work; at other times you want to discover what lies around the bend, but she’s not ready yet. It can be frustrating, but heightens the experience of the show.
The exhibition unfolds in eight progressive sequences, each made up of more than one installation. It starts on a tranquil note, with Japanese artist Michael Lin’s joyful, camellia-inspired mosaic floor installation, which lies under Italian Loris Cecchini’s Floating Crystals. Lin’s flower bed of red and white camellias, made of 65,000 diamond-shaped metal lozenges, are cut to the size of the quilting of Chanel’s 2.55 bag, while Cecchini’s luminescent clouds suspended above the floor are made up of 25,000 transparent plastic crystals that are a 3D version of the same diamond shape.