HONG KONG—Having debuted its Peter Marino–designed Beverly Hills shop bedecked with artwork this past fall, Chanel follows up next month with another curatorial endeavor: in February, the fashion house unveils its “contemporary art container,” built by Zaha Hadid, in Hong Kong. The 7,500-square-foot space is engineered with the skylights and sweeping ovoid supports that are as much a trademark for the Pritzker Prize-winning architect as the quilted bag is for Chanel. The exterior is made of reflective materials on which customized light and video projections can be screened. Inside, “Mobile Art” features commissioned works by international artists selected by Beaux Arts magazine editor Fabrice Bousteau, such as Japanese artist Nobuyoshi Araki’s slide show of a young woman freeing herself from Chanel bag chains. Over the next two years, the exhibition and its venue will journey to cities where Chanel bags have a ubiquitous presence, including Paris, Tokyo and, come fall, New York.   

"Traveling Act" originally appeared in the January 2008 issue of Art+Auction. For a complete list of articles from this issue available on ARTINFO, see Art+Auction's January 2008 Table of Contents.