Photo by Francois Lacour, © Tabaimo

Tabiamo’s video animation "At the Bottom" is shown inside Zaha Hadid’s contemporary art container.

For an interview with Karl Lagerfeld, click here

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Galantic: We don’t discuss the budget. 

Douglas: Will the pavilion look different in New York than it did in Hong Kong and Tokyo? 

Pavlovsky: The pavilion is like a bag – depending on how you wear it, it changes, and its content is very personal. You never look inside a woman’s bag. Relocations are part of this project. In Hong Kong the pavilion was on the top of a car park and amid all this incredible architecture.  

Galantic: When we discussed with our team where to be in New York, we didn’t have a second choice. We just said, “This belongs in Central Park.”  

Douglas: Today you can’t throw a stone without hitting a fashion-meets-art venture. For instance, the handbags Takashi Murakami has done with Louis Vuitton. 

Bousteau: In that case, an artist customized a product by Vuitton. In this project, there is no cobranding. There are no Chanel products in the exhibition. And it’s a gift, being a free exhibition. The idea is to offer to people this meeting between art, fashion and architecture. Also, there is a sound track on an MP3 player. You can’t visit Mobile Art without this sound track. So, really, it’s the fusion of architecture, art, fashion, music and text that creates Mobile Art.

Douglas: Has Chanel ever considered cobranding? 

Bousteau: Chanel has never done cobranding, and when Bruno asked me to participate in this project, that’s why I accepted—because Chanel has always been respectful of artists.  

Pavlovsky: We have a very strong artistic director in Karl Lagerfeld, whom we really believe in. 

Galantic: And Karl has been very clear about the difference between fine art and decorative art. 

Bousteau: Consider the artwork by Subodh Gupta. People thought Chanel would only be interested in big star artists, but when we started this project, he was not the star he is today. Chanel was taking a risk. Subodh made a two-screen video. On the left are scenes from Bollywood movies where women take handbags and do things like use them as weapons in fights with their boyfriends. It’s about how bags function in our society, particularly in Indian society. On the other screen is a video that Chanel funded, about people working in places like Dubai, who put their belongings into bags made from giant pieces of fabric. That has nothing to do with luxury bags. Bags are about the mobility of people. If women and men in developing societies have bags, it’s because it’s a way to be free.

Douglas: What happens to Hadid’s pavilion after the tour?  

Pavlovsky: We haven’t decided the future of the pavilion. It could go into storage, but we already have requests from museums to use it. Because it’s the first mobile pavilion from Zaha Hadid, we will find a good use for it, perhaps even by Chanel, in the future.

Douglas: Will Chanel buy the artworks? 

Pavlovsky: We already discussed with the artists that Chanel may buy the pieces at the end of the project. Chanel has priority on every piece. But a lot of collectors and museums have also asked to buy them.