Chanel Pavilion
If you are going to visit the Chanel Pavilion in Central Park, you may be think it’s bloody unbelievable. The Pavilion is designed to display artworks inspired by Chanel’s chain-strap handbag.
A year ago such a dubious undertaking might have seemed indulgent, but today it looks delusional.
It is not just the economic turmoil, the pavilion sets out to drape an aura of refinement over a cynical marketing gimmick.
The Pavilion was first shown in Hong Kong and Tokyo. It will be on view in New York through Nov. 9. Chanel is paying a $400,000 fee to rent space in the park. This is the video project by the Japanese artist Tabaimo.
Opening the Pavilion in Central Park is a great democratic experiment, an immense social mixing place. The Chanel project reminds us how far we have traveled from those ideals by removing the boundary between the civic relm and corporate interests.
