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Our eyes and ears in Japan, Misha Janette, visits the brand-new gallery, Espace Louis Vuitton, in Tokyo.
Louis Vuitton quietly opened their gallery-specific space Espace Louis Vuitton in Tokyo last week, and Racked had a chance to visit inside. The Tokyo opening actually marked the fifth anniversary of the original Espace on the Champs Elysées, and this first exhibit is headlined by French contemporary artist Xavier Veilhan.
Successfully working our way through the first crowded handbag floor and up to the seventh, we are greeted by a surprisingly vast space with a nearly 30 foot-tall ceiling that hovers above the condensed Omotesando promenade on which the Vuitton flagship rests.
This feeling of floating that the space projects set the theme for Veilhan’s inaugural exhibit, titled “Free Fall”. There are several pieces on display, including a 13-foot tall “Tokyo Statue” of an abstract figure morphing out of skyscrapers. But the piece de resistance is a giant contraption that rumbles to life every five minutes, spinning a ring of cannon balls around with fury like the swings at the county fair.
Veilhan is no stranger to Louis Vuitton and his installation “Mobile” is currently installed at the brand’s 5th Ave flagship in Manhattan.
Free Fall runs until May 8th in Tokyo.
· Espace Louis Vuitton Tokyo [Official Site]
· All Tokyo coverage [Racked]