Louis Vuitton is set to open its latest Espace gallery in Munich this weekend, expanding the luxury giant's existing collection of art spaces that adjoin its Paris, Tokyo, Venice and Singapore maisons. This opening will further serve to extend the house's creative sphere of influence, culminating with its awe-inspiring Frank Gehry-designed Paris Fondation Louis Vuitton, scheduled for a late October launch this year.
'While all Espaces follow a shared global vision, they are tightly intertwined with their local context,' explained Michael Burke, Chairman and CEO, Louis Vuitton of the addition. 'With our inaugural exhibition in Munich, we would like to honour the passion, dedication and long-term encouragement of local collectors.'
Located in the heart of the city and housed within the historic Residenzpost building - already home to the brand's Munich maison - the gallery will act as an independent art space, with a free public events program that's aimed at encouraging new encounters between the local community and both native and international artists.
Inaugurating the gallery is a group exhibition titled, 'No Such Thing As History: Four Collections and One Artist', which will explore the idea of a collection as an archive of art. 'The theme turned out to be history, or better, how history is written, represented, created and also manipulated and constructed,' expands curator Jens Hoffmann, who is also deputy director of The Jewish Museum in New York, and senior adjunct curator at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Detroit.
The exhibition's narrative is defined by eight new works from German photographer Annette Kelm, inspired by activist, sociologist and actress Hannelore Mabry, who resided in Munich from 1966 until her death in 2013, and was a key icon of the German feminist movement. In particular, Kelm has delved into Mabry's Körperumhänge, or body robes, which she and other activists wore during demonstrations, made out of bed sheets and painted to spell out their political slogans.
As the show's title suggests, Hoffmann has also sourced some 20 contemporary artworks of various media from four private Munich collections, including the ICC, Lorenz/Amandine Cornette de Saint Cyr, Mackert and Wiese, featuring a range of artists from Richard Prince to Martin Boyce, Claire Fontaine and Jonathan Horowitz.
Inside the gallery's 320 square metre expanse, curator Jens Hoffmann has united the work of German photographer Annette Kelm (right wall), with some twenty contemporary artworks of various media
Curator Jens Hoffmann with German photographer Annette Kelm
Annette Kelm's eight new works are directly inspired by activist, sociologist and actress Hannelore Mabry, who was a key icon of the German feminist movement
Kelm has delved into Mabry's Körperumhänge, or body robes, which she and other activists wore during demonstrations, made out of bed sheets and painted to spell out their political slogans
On the far wall: Lukas Duwenhögger's 'The Adventures of Venus – Her marvelous Experience at the Hands of Italians', 2005
In the foreground are Henrik Olesen's 'Cubes (after Sol Lewitt)', 1998 - 2008, detailing four cubes composed of polysterene and adhesive tape and joined by a lone milk carton
ADDRESS
Espace Louis Vuitton Munich
Maximilianstraße 2a, 80539 Munich, Germany
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