Chanel's Mobile Art Structure Coming to Central Park NY 10/20-11/9/08

This may warrant a field trip to NY for some research. :)

Chanel got a prominent architect, Zaha Hadid, to make this crazy cool structure to house the artwork created by 15 contemporary artists who were inspired by Chanel’s classic 2.55 quilted-style chain handbag.

From the NY Times:
Using computer software Ms. Hadid designed a 7,500-square-foot doughnut-shape structure with a central courtyard. Its lightweight panels can be packed in 51 shippable containers; no panel is wider than 7.38 feet.

Skylights admit natural light, and computer-generated lighting casts a rainbow of colors around the base of the exterior that glows day and night.

Visitors entering the pavilion will be given MP3 players. On a track created by the sound artist Stephan Crasneanscki they will hear the French actress Jeanne Moreau discussing everything from sex and love to the secrets at the bottom of a woman’s handbag.

(A little about Zaha) - She is the the first female recipient of the Pritzker Architecture Prize which is considered to be the Nobel Prize of architecture. Her first building in the United States, the Rosenthal Center for Contemporary Art in Cincinnati, was an immediate critical and popular success. It led to major commissions, including the BMW Central Building in Leipzig, Germany; the Phaeno Science Center in Wolfsburg, Germany; Maxxi, the National Center for Contemporary Arts in Rome; and a high-speed train station in Naples.

Now you all know that I have mad respect for any company that creates a truly unique experience. You go Chanel for doing something interesting! Fashion can be art! Art, architecture and fashion can work together to create something spectacular for people!

And it seems that you were smart enough to make this a free event BUT are advising people to book timed tickets!
(You need to teach the "Glow" people a thing or two about how to put on large scale events.)

You even have a pretty good website where we can learn about the artists before we go.

Field trip anyone? :)

More at NY Times

Rumsey Playfield, midpark at 70th Street, from Oct. 20 to Nov. 9.