It is no longer enough to simply be a flagship, you have to be a flagship with added value, as Ann Demeulemester has demonstrated with an all green store designed by Minsuk Cho in South Korea, 2009.
Chanel and architect Peter Marino have created a new one of a kind, petite boutique just for the younger set in Los Angeles
Marcel Wanders designed the award winning mixed brand store Villa Moda in Bahrain
While new mega flagships are being envisioned, artists have long been responding to the retail space. Daniel Buren began in the 1960's using striped fabric from store awnings. He would paint the outer two stripes with white paint and present the work as paintings. He also used the fabric to cover a gallery door and then controversially down the center of the Guggenheim. Buren continues using awning fabric and questioning the methods of promotion and display.
Daniel Buren, Inside (Centre Pompidou), 1971
Daniel Buren, On the Waterfront, 2005
Artists Elmgreen and Dragset launched into recognition by building a Prada store simulation in the fashionable town of Marfa where Donald Judd's work is displayed. The artists recently occupied two pavilions of the Venice Biennale. They transformed the galleries into private homes filled with other artists' work and titled "The Collectors."
Considered to be an innovative fashion and art initiative, the Chanel Mobile Art project was commissioned by Chanel and designed by designer Karl Lagerfeld with the Iraqi architect ZahaHadid. It was called a contemporary art container and hosted art projects by Daniel Buren, LeeBul, Nobuyoshi Araki, Sophie Calle, Stephen Shore, Sylvie Fleury, Yoko Ono. The project was intended as a travlling Chanel embassy to Tokyo, Hong Kong, Moscow, Paris, London, New York (2006-2008). But after a $10 million dollar investment it stopped touring in NY, due to the downturn of the economy and lack of general support of frivolous ventures.
“Today, everyone can say that something is for financial reasons when they want. For me, artistic reasons are more important. I always thought the building was a sculpture. I prefer it empty.” -Lagerfeld
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