The Gucci exhibition that traces the aesthetics of Alessandro Michele
Gucci Garden Archetypes tells 15 iconic campaigns of the brand through a series of installations
May 14th, 2021
Gucci continues the celebration of its centenary with a new immersive exhibition to be held at the Gucci Garden in Florence called Gucci Garden Archetypes. An archetype is the original form from which all copies are taken, impossible to recreate in itself – this concept will be used to tell the unique and unrepeatable moments of Gucci's campaigns that evoke Alessandro Michele's inclusive, free and bold philosophy. From Tokyo to Los Angeles, from Seoul to May '68, passing through imaginary museums and Berlin clubs, the exhibition will unfold through visions and fantasies, as well as through the multiple inspirations of the world of music, art, travel and popular culture that echo in the Gucci campaigns.The exhibition will open today and can be visited from Monday to Friday from 10:00 to 19:00, while to visit it on weekends a reservation will be required by email at the address [email protected] Alessandro Michele commented on the announcement saying:
«I thought it was interesting to accompany people on these first six years of my journey, inviting them to go through a crossing in the imagination, in the narrative, in the unexpected, in the twist, in the glitter. I created a playground of emotions that are the same as advertising campaigns, because precisely these are the most explicit story of my vision».
The exhibition will develop through a series of immersive visions designed by the design studio Archivio Personale through the use of cutting-edge technologies, elaborate handworking and innovative interior design. The exhibition is accessed through a control room covered with screens on which the real-time images of the exhibition itself flow. Inside, a succession of thematic spaces and corridors bring to life the intricate world-building of 15 of Gucci's most iconic campaigns. Gucci Beauty's lipstick campaign is transformed, for example, into a multi-screen kaleidoscopic composition featuring the imperfect smile of punk singer Dani Miller. The Gucci Bloom-inspired room is instead a floral paradise while the Pre-Fall 2017 campaign inspires an installation formed by a circular projection that creates the immersive feeling of being on the dancefloor with northern soul dancers.
The homage of the Pre-Fall 2018 campaign to the rebellious '68 Paris, on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the youth protest movement, is evoked by a staircase covered with graffiti, which connects the two floors of the spaces. To pay homage to the SS18 campaign, interdisciplinary artist Ignasi Monreal instead created in almost 900 hours of meticulous work, a giant hand-painted mural covering walls and ceiling. In another room, 150,000 sequins evoke the aesthetics of the FW16 campaign, set in Tokyo, while a diorama from the Natural History Museum showcases the creatures, aliens and explorers featured in the FW17 campaign. For the FW18 campaign, a room has been set up decorated with shelves filled with thousands of butterflies in the display cases, hundreds of cuckoo watches, colorful wigs and sneakers. The SS16 campaign was instead evoked by recreating the atmosphere of the bathroom of an 80s Berlin nightclub that, in the next room, turns into a modernist villa that winks at the Cruise 2020 campaign. Through a maze of mirrors you enter a mansion like that of the Cruise 2016 campaign, the room dedicated to Cruise 2019 instead evokes the construction of noah's ark and, finally, the first campaign directed by Alessandro Michele, the FW15, becomes a los angeles metro carriage.
The Gucci Garden Archetypes catalogue therefore wants to become the ideal continuation of the creations born from the imagination of Alessandro Michele, a repertoire of his inventiveness that winds through sudden illuminations, surprises, historical memories. The visit of the exhibition will also be accompanied by original texts by personalities from the cultural scene such as the critic Achille Bonito Oliva, the philosopher Emanuele Coccia, the artist and researcher Anna Franceschini, the curator Antwaun Sargent and the advisor for sustainability and culture Shaway Yeh. Being Gucci a brand that always bets everything on technology, a virtual tour on Gucci.com will also be available, which will offer the opportunity to visit the exhibition even remotely. In addition, the brand will bring the Gucci experience to the Roblox platform starting May 17th for two weeks. Visiting this virtual gallery, also inspired by the Gucci campaigns on display, the virtual avatars of the users will gradually collect aesthetic elements of the various rooms to become, in the end, a digital work of art themselves.