“I encourage everyone to take advantage of the golden opportunity to see this spectacular collection of modern art by world-renowned designers, architects and artists. At the same time, works from several local artists will also be on display,” he added.

Symbol of elegance and exquisite French lifestyle, Louis Vuitton has maintained close links with the arts for more than a century and a half. Founded during the industrial era, Louis Vuitton has always been in step with its time, working with the best engineers, decorators and creators. Inventor of the art of travel, the man Louis Vuitton and his successors have forged a strong relationship between traditional know how and present day design.

The arrival of Marc Jacobs and artistic director in 1997 reinforced and underlined the link with artists. Exemplary collaboration with Stephen Sprouse, Takashi Murakami and Richard Prince has marked the history of the relationship between art and commerce. In Hong Kong, the Louis Vuitton and Art exhibition brings this exciting story to life, analysing the unique creative process through installations, where works of art and archive documents are brought together.

The Collection, a Choice
This exhibition of a selection of works from the Fondation Louis Vuitton pour la Création brings together a small number of significant large-scale works (paintings, photographs, video installations) by European, American and Chinese artists. These reflect an urban and energetic culture, leading to fictional landscapes, somewhere between dream and adventure.

Artists include: Jean-Michel Basquiat, Paul Chan, Cao-Fei, Yang Fudong, Gilbert & George, Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster, Andreas Gursky, Pierre Huyghe, Jeff Koons, Bertrand Lavier, Christian Marclay, Richard Prince.

Works by recognised and newly-discovered international artists working in the medium of video will be shown : Bas Jan Ader (Netherlands), Kader Attia, Cyprien Gaillard, Ange Leccia, Philippe Parreno (France), Olga Chernysheva (Russia), David Claerbout (Belgium), Trisha Donnelly, Ryan Trecartin (USA), Steve Mc Queen (Great Britain), Anri Sala (Albania), Zhou Tao (China), Rosemarie Trockel (Germany) among others.

In a developing open-minded spirit, the Foundation was eager to invite ‘emerging’ Hong Kong artists to take part in this exhibition with the help of a young art critic and curator who lives in China. / From Hong Kong Museum of Art

An UFO landed on the roof of Star Ferry Car park nearby Hongkong bay, 27th Feb (till 5th April). It is in this futuristic, shiny, white, curved pavilion that Chanel launched its first stop of modern art exhibition called ‘Mobile Art’.

The strange futuristic pavilion as itself an artwork is created by British-Iraqi architect Zaha Hadid. Made of 300 blocks of FRP (Fiber Reinforced Plastics) and assembled in 4 weeks, the exhibition venue becomes the pearl shining in HongKong Central skyline. When night comes, it is covered in neon blue.

The modern art exhibition consists of artistic interpretations of the iconic Chanel handbag. Visitors are encouraged to wear headphones to listen to music by Jeanne Moreau specifically designed in mandarin and cantonese to voyage in « ce film en 3D, ce paysage qui bouge » (a real landscape and a 3-dimensional film which comes to life) promised by Fabrice Bousteau, Mobile Art Exhibition curator.

The exhibit features works by 20 international artists from China, France, South Korea, Iran, Belgium, Russia and the United States among other countries. A giant sculpture of a black Chanel handbag that encases a video, by Swiss artist Sylvie Fleury; two stuffed pigs next to encased Chanel handbags called “Jesus Love and 2 Handbags”, by Belgian artist Wim Delyoye. Japanese artist Tabaimo designed a black hole with graphic animation. It’s her interpretation of unlocking the secrets hidden inside a handbag. We can also find the creations of french artists Daniel Buren “Untitled 2008″ and Sophie Calle, the shanghainese filmmaker Yang Fudong. A black poetic room under Paris touch by Argentine artist Leandro Erlich; a bouquet of flowers in mosaic by Taiwanese artist Michael Linn with the crystal clouds by Italien artist Loris Cecchini; gag videos of Russian Blue Noses and bondage photos of Araki with chaines of Chanel handbag.

Bousteau says the exhibit is intended to be experimental and to move art away from the more traditional museum setting. “Mobile Art in my view is an expression of utopia and the future. It’s a completely weird architectural project because it’s the first building in the world which will travel, which will circulate and which is nomadic.”

The exhibition will travel through Asia, the U.S., London, Moscow and arrive in Paris in 2010. The next stop after Hong Kong is Tokyo.