Celebrity Life

These fantastic surprise and digital gift ideas will make your mom truly happy and proud.

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Dubbed the "gallery of the future", Hauser & Wirth’s newly launched research and innovation arm, ArtLab, has just announced that it will host its first ever virtual reality exhibition on 30 April. The group exhibition, titled Beside Itself, takes place in Hauser & Wirth’s future gallery space in Menorca, allowing visitors a first look at the art centre ahead of its opening in 2021.

ArtLab was birthed by Hauser & Wirth after intensive research in the summer of 2019 to create bespoke technology solutions for the most pressing issues in the art world, including greater accessibility and sustainability. The ArtLab team began exploring innovations that would allow audiences to fully experience exhibitions in different local contexts without traveling —a project that takes on greater meaning and urgency amid the coronavirus pandemic— while permitting artists, curators, and exhibition coordinators to better prepare shows using new technology. In addition, ArtLab will also host a digital residency program at Hauser & Wirth Los Angeles for artists and their teams by invitation to enabling them to explore the full potential of this new technology. Using a bespoke technology-stack not found in any other industry and drawing from techniques applied in architecture, construction and video-game design, Artlab creates true-to-life scale and accuracy as well as the authentic look, feel and interactivity of Hauser & Wirth galleries. Building the virtual 3D space from the ground up at a pixel level rather than relying on combined photos, HWVR provides an unprecedented level of accuracy and flexibility.

[caption id="attachment_206409" align="alignnone" width="1454"] ArtLab, in software installation view of Ellen Gallagher’s ‘DeLuxe’, 2004-2005 and Mark Bradford’s ‘Chicago’, 2019 created in HWVR (Courtesy of Hauser & Wirth and the artists)[/caption]

Visitors will be able to experience the virtual reality exhibition through the gallery’s website. Taking its title from a wall piece by Lawrence Weiner, the exhibition brings together text-based works from the following artists: Louise Bourgeois, Mark Bradford, Charles Gaines, Ellen Gallagher, Jenny Holzer, Roni Horn, Luchita Hurtado, Mike Kelley, Glenn Ligon, Damon McCarthy, Paul McCarthy, Bruce Nauman, Lorna Simpson and Lawrence Weiner. Spanning a period from the 1970’s to the present day, these works explore the intersection of text and the visual image from Bourgeois’s etching ‘Le Coeur Est La’ to Mark Bradford’s bold printed words in ‘New York City’.

Iwan Wirth, one of the founders, made the following statement regarding this new venture:

[inline-quote author="Iwan Wirth"]"Our primary goal was to create technology that would help our artists visualise the spaces where their exhibitions would be presented. We were equally motivated by a desire to plan exhibitions for our locations around the globe in a way that would reduce the amount of travel and transportation. Given the current situation, we feel this new approach to virtual reality exhibitions is especially relevant, will engage as many people as possible and bring them together while we’re all apart."[/inline-quote]

‘Beside Itself’ will open on 30 April 2020 and can be accessed by a computer, smart phone or using a VR headset such as google cardboard.

Preview the Virtual Reality exhibition space here:

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The world-renowned arts and music event Burning Man cancels for the first time in its nearly 40-year history and will instead, take the 2020 festival online. Fittingly, the theme for the festival this year is ‘The Multiverse,’ which has worked out for them perfectly – despite being unable to host the event at Black Rock Desert, Nevada as planned, the organisers of Burning Man have instead creatively made a digital universe for burners to revel in. When asked about their decision to build Black Rock City, the organisers optimistically said “who’d have believed it would come true?”, keeping up with the positive spirit of the event. Festival goers were initially invited to experience alternate realities in the dust, but now they can do so in the comfort of their own home.

The Burning Man Project said in a statement, “given the painful reality of COVID-19, one of the greatest global challenges of our lifetimes, we believe this is the right thing to do. Yes, we are heartbroken. We know you are too. In 2020 we need human connection and immediacy more than ever. But public health and the well-being of our participants, staff, and neighbours in Nevada are our highest priorities.”

[caption id="attachment_206416" align="alignnone" width="1555"] Burners gather in front of the temple, featuring the Man, who will be burned after the festival is over. (BRC News)[/caption]

However, although the physical event has been cancelled this year, one major perk to their decision to bring it online is that anybody can join without having to travel, which means more people can participate in this spiritual experience. According to the organisers, it will be a co-created experience with over 100,000 participants from all over the globe. Virtual burners will be able to take part in cooking classes, dance events, art workshops and yoga practices from anywhere in the world. In addition, anyone can contribute to this virtual Burning Man by offering their own talents in a series of questions asked online in order to join, in line with the age-old tradition of exchange in which the festival has been built on.

“Burning Man is a culture, it’s a movement,” said Burning Man CEO Marian Goodell. “We look forward to inviting you to the virtual Black Rock City.” Those who are interested in participating can sign up online here, with the virtual festival scheduled to run from August 30 to September 7. The festival will be ticketed, although the price has yet to be announced.

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Would it matter to you if your beloved pastor strut the halls in sneakers more exclusive and expensive than all of yours combined?

The post Christian Pastors Are Making Controversial Appearances Whilst Decked-Out in Designer Sneakers appeared first on LUXUO.

Born and raised in Ontario, Canada, Hong Kong-based artist Peter Yuill has been making waves on the local scene this year with his solo exhibition Alignment at newly opened Gallery HZ on Hollywood Road. Following a star-studded attendance at his previews in Soho House Hong Kong, which saw politician John Tsang, singer/actress Joyce Cheng and Moiselle heiress Tiffany Chan among the crowd, art aficionados and artists alike concede that this will be a transformative year for him.

The art that Yuill produces is clean, minimal, Zen, extremely detailed and somewhat intimidating. Highly analytical and technical in appearance, his circular paradigm has become a trademark that’s inspired by the interconnectedness of the universe and the inevitable limitations of humans in their understanding of all the secrets of nature. In his show, Yuill turns the dichotomous relationship between the infinite and the limited into a powerful narrative of liberation through which he’s indeed achieved the alignment between his artistic and spiritual development.

Spirituality is a consistent theme in his exhibition, which is no surprise given his own strong spirituality and interest in the topic. Indeed, as he’s married to feng shui designer Thierry Chow, daughter of the famed feng shui master Chow Hon Ming, you could say that the theme dominates his life. In 2017, Yuill released an acclaimed series of works with static line, circular form and monochromatic shapes drawn and arranged by hands. The series represented his journey in finding the synthesis between two seemingly paradoxical realms – his logical mind and inner self.

[caption id="attachment_205689" align="alignnone" width="7192"] Limitless Path of the Intuitive Mind I, 2020[/caption]

Since then, he continues this journey by further reducing his pictorial vocabulary to a single shape – a circle – and finds his definitive language of expression that transcends all the dichotomies of the world and immerses viewers in the intricate yet harmonious dimension of the whole. According to Yuill, the circular iconography in his work “came from a long process of deconstruction that I undertook several years ago trying to get to the core essence of myself and my creative vision. I spent a long time being unhappy with the work I was making and really wanted to break everything down and discover what I was really all about. I continued to distil my work down more and more and more until I was eventually left with just a circle, and from there I began building back up again. To me the circle represents the marriage of mathematical and spiritual perfection.”

Yuill says this body of work has been incubating since last autumn, with hundreds of different sketches and concept drawings laid out to create the pieces he wanted to make. It wasn’t until December of last year that he began kicking it into high gear, which is highly impressive given that he then created the 14 original works and three limited-edition prints in a span of just three months. Whereas his previous works “were much more chaotic and aggressive, the pieces in Alignment are much more balanced and centred, reflecting that same feeling within me”, he says. Yuill says he always knew he’d be an artist in one form or another. “I’ve always been a fiercely independent and self-reliant person, and walk my own path. I never really fitted into normal society even from a very early age, and always knew that my own destiny was something that would cut against the grain. For a long time it was a very isolating feeling actually, until I realised that it was okay to think so radically differently from everyone around me.”

[caption id="attachment_205726" align="alignnone" width="859"] Peter Yuill working in his Chai Wan studio[/caption]

When asked to describe Hong Kong’s art scene, Yuill says that it’s a work in progress –  “Hong Kong is a very tough place to be an artist. There’s very little resources, very little establishment support and the rents are obscenely expensive. The city is run from a commerce mindset, not from a quality-of-life or appreciation-of-beauty mindset. This makes anyone doing anything that isn’t commerce-related always struggling and having to fight an uphill battle. "That being said, it’s not all bad either. As a younger city on the up and up, it can be easier to network and meet the kind of people that can help you develop, because everyone’s trying to do something, everyone’s a hustler. It also makes the creative community small, tight-knit and like a family. We’re all in this together and people help each other a lot.”

Yuill’s currently working with his good friend and fellow artist Simon Birch on his large project The 14th Factory, which also features several other Hong Kong, Chinese and international artists. Launched previously in Los Angeles, it’s now in the process of being moved to London – global circumstances permitting, of course.

Alignment is on view until May 9th at Gallery HZ.

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Opening a gallery in Hong Kong this month, former French prime minister Dominique de Villepin and his son, Arthur, have hope their contributions will further enrich the city’s cultural scene.

The post Former French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin and His son, Arthur, Unveil The Three-Storey ‘Villepin’ Fine Art Gallery appeared first on LUXUO.

Cirque du Soleil explores debt restructuring options and has temporarily laid off a majority of its staff due to the worsening coronavirus

The post Cirque du Soleil’s Cancelled Shows May Result in a Bankruptcy Filing appeared first on LUXUO.

On the other end of the age scale with the great Jack Nicklaus in his sights, Tiger Woods looks to extend an incredible, record-breaking Masters career at the Augusta National in Georgia.

The post Tiger Woods Set to Play For Another Augusta National Win in Georgia appeared first on LUXUO.

Inspired by the world’s most exotic natural destinations, the Rafael outdoor furniture collection features a variety of irregularly shaped lounge chairs, daybeds, sun loungers, and coffee tables.

The post The Ethimo and Paola Navone Rafael Outdoor Furniture Collection Looks ‘Almost Tribal’ appeared first on LUXUO.

B&B Italia collaborates with Philippe Stark, on an innovative collection of waterproof outdoor seating.

The post Philippe Stark and B&B Italia’s Innovative ‘Oh It Rains’ Outdoor Furniture Collection appeared first on LUXUO.

Edge boasts uninterrupted views beyond the awe-inspiring New York City skyline, with a connecting outdoor staircase and seating area for optimal visibility.

The post Edge, New York is The Western Hemisphere’s Tallest Outdoor Skydeck appeared first on LUXUO.

Not many 25-year-olds can open a museum and anticipate art’s global cognoscenti of dealers, collectors, gallerists, owners, digital platforms and venerable institutions to be watching every step of the way with breathless anticipation. So it is with one of China’s millennial calling-cards, the dynamic artrepreneur of style and the aesthetic, Michael Xufu Huang, and founder of Beijing’s X Museum, which opens next month.
Huang exhibits soft power on a prolific scale, and his creative ambition encapsulates both the country’s newly wealthy seeking a richer cultural life and those legions of newly influential digital hipsters whose minds are both more open and more international than their forebears, and more concerned with high class and good taste than just riches. Huang is digital marketing’s content It-boy nonpareil and he’s riding the now-and-future wave array of electronic excitation that World 2.0 has become. And a Great Wave it is.
Despite his being a mere spring chicken of a lad – and a mighty stylish one at that – this isn’t the first time Huang’s initiated such a venture. In 2014, he co-founded what’s become the much-lauded M Woods non-profit private museum in Beijing’s 798 art district with Wanwan Lei (former model for revered Chinese painter Liu Ye) and her husband Lin Han (a prolific collector) – the couple’s fame and network lends them glowing digital celebrification.

[caption id="attachment_194630" align="alignnone" width="1796"] Jacket Giorgio Armani | Top Michael's own[/caption]

The trio wanted to bring experimental and international art into China. Their collective mantra was squarely aimed at luring a younger generation of Chinese into museums so they might adopt art as a hobby and grow a lifestyle with it. And rapidly came the expectant eyes of global art’s jet-set. And yet, five years on, despite art’s percolation and greater popularisation in China, Huang is choosing to move on at what seems like the pinnacle of success. Why?
“There’s a few reasons,” he says between changes of costume during our shoot. “First, I think I’m quite disappointed with the Chinese museum scene, in terms of everyone doing Western-themed artists.” Huang doesn’t deny that such exhibitions are publicly important for art education and has actively promoted them in the past (Andy Warhol, for example) with M Woods, he just can’t reconcile how that leverages 2020 China’s influence in the global art world.

“Form the New Norm,” goes his X Museum mantra, and like millions of his millennial peers and looming Gen-Zers, he’s in a rush to expedite this century’s geo-cultural shift via scroll, in the blink of an eye and the
“Like” of a social-media post. “I just want to show that we’re not like a typical museum. Yes, we’re starting with a collection, but the whole idea is to cultivate new talent.” Huang explains that currently there’s no such mechanism in China to help nurture young artists in such a way. Thus, he plans “to help them build their career and gain them more international attention”. He pauses. “I think that’s something I cannot resist – to show people how curious we are and why it’s important that we’re here.”
Huang has been continually travelling, (he was in Bangladesh prior our meeting in Hong Kong and flying to London the following day) and claims never to have much time to read long-form art-world articles. “I never have any time. I’m a workaholic,” he says. Little wonder given his remit. For X, he’s overseeing programming, development, promotion and more. “It’s like my baby,” he jokes. “I do everything for it.”
X Museum is a two-storey building in the city’s Chaoyang District orchestrated by Beijing-based Korean architect and designer Howard Jiho Kim, who oversees the studio TEMP. Huang’s opening exhibition How Do We Begin? , which forms the first part in a triennial, consists of 33 artists who espouse the millennial zeitgeist, and is curated by London Royal College of Art graduate Poppy Dongxu Wu (@poppydxwu). “This is her first exhibition in China,” says Huang, almost matter-of-factly, “and she’s doing a really good job. She’s from an architecture background too which is good for our multidisciplinary viewpoint.”
As counterbalance, Huang has assembled a glittering jury who will award a cash prize, consisting of Hans Ulrich Obrist (Serpentine Galleries, who says that Huang’s “immense curiosity” never ceases to amaze him), Kate Fowle (director of MoMA PS1), Zhang Zikang (Central Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing), and Diana Campbell Betancourt (Samdani Art Foundation). Looking ahead he also foresees digital projects. “I’d like to do curatorial projects online because the physical space can only allow you to do so much – like one or two shows at a time. There are also so many good curators I want to work with in China.”

[caption id="attachment_194631" align="alignnone" width="1789"] Outfit Hermès[/caption]

While Huang grew up and schooled in London and went to the Tate Modern every weekend to learn more about getting into the profession, his art epiphany came in the less likely art milieu of one of the Tate’s satellites. Holidaying – in fact he says he was camping – with friends in the seaside village of St Ives, southwest England in 2012, Huang discovered the Tate St Ives showing American artist Alex Katz’s seascapes and beach scenes and went to take a look. “What got me hooked is when I went to Tate St Ives, and Alex Katz, everything clicked in my heart. This was like a revelation, and you feel it’s a part of your life. It made me extremely happy and meaningful.”
It’s curious that Huang succumbed to the leisure and recreation of Katz’s work, the American’s high-intensity art paintings being defined as they are by an economy of line and indulgence of style, along with their cool but seductive emotional detachment. That could be a description of Huang. Influenced as much by style, fashion and music as by art history, yet still classical at heart despite the “now-y” vibe. Katz’s sassy show, appropriately enough, was called Give Me Tomorrow.
Poet, writer and University of Pennsylvania professor Kenneth Goldsmith taught the undergraduate Huang, who sat in on a grad seminar he was teaching in the art department, which Goldsmith describes as a “free-form discussion group about issues of the day”, and Huang also took a class Goldsmith taught about fashion theory and creative writing. The Ivy League professor recalls Huang’s unusual “X” factor. “He was perhaps the most unique student I’ve had in the 15 years of teaching,” he recalls. “He would saunter into class wearing furs and designer sunglasses, hanging on every word I said, taking in every bit of information about art, literature and music I had to offer. He was very quiet but very engaged. He cast a spell on myself and all of the other students, who at first were a bit perplexed but in time came around to adore him.”
How does the X man see himself? “A paradox,” he says, managing to reference an “X”. Personality-wise, I’m quite aloof in some ways. I like to have a lot of ‘me time’ when I can. I don’t like to socialise or be too public. But nowadays if you want to do anything you have to be present, so it’s like a paradox. You want to be real, but there’s that sense that your platform or social media is just curated or performed. It’s not the real you. And then you have to say what’s politically correct; there’s what you believe in, or what you have to believe in.”

[caption id="attachment_194635" align="alignnone" width="1783"] Outfit Dior Homme[/caption]

In retrospect, Huang, despite his “cool for Katz” epiphany in St Ives, England, thought the London galleries too inaccessible and “too posh” in their ways at the time he was growing up. “London galleries are more distant if you’re young. It’s easier to access art spaces in New York, and that brought me into the community, and I became more involved. It created a sense of belonging and that definitely helped.”
Goldsmith recalls a conversation he had about what Huang might do after graduating. “I do remember one time talking to him when he was considering going into tech after school. I told him that although he’d undoubtedly make a lot of money, the art world would be a lesser place should he not pursue it. We’re all glad to he took my advice!”
Despite the classicism, Huang, like many who’ve grown up in his generation, follows what’s called “Post-Internet” Art. “I’m very interested in Post-Internet Art. And I want such artists to come to China – there’s such a lot of material people can use in China, and post-internet art in a China context.” How does he define such Post-Internet Art? “It’s art dealing with tech, digital, industrial materials; for our generation it’s something we grew up with.”
How does he assess the legacy of contemporary Chinese artist Cao Fei, whose first major solo exhibition Blueprints is showing at London’s Serpentine Galleries until May 17. “For me, she’s not really my generation, but she has set a tone for Chinese art. She’s probably the first who represented China globally and challenged everyone’s perception. I think the new generation in China are now very international.”
Which in Huang’s generation means a huge number of people that have studied abroad and have a global vision. And even those who didn’t. “Everyone is pretty educated now, the education system is good, English is very good, everyone is curious. Like film, and music, or even #Metoo,
people see that and its global effect. And with that, Chinese institutions can have influence globally now.”

[caption id="attachment_194637" align="alignnone" width="1787"] Outfit Brunello Cucinelli[/caption]

So far Huang’s X Museum is generating all the right noises. “I think we’re already generating a lot of fuss, and on digital and social media, people are excited about it, people are talking. It’s also word of mouth; we bring out the community of real talent and of course they have their own communities. I think it’s just a matter of time. We also have fashion people, brands I want to collaborate with, and sponsors.”
“You know our slogan is ‘form the new norm’, and I think we’re doing that and I always see the art world as a challenge, I don’t follow all the institutions, I do what I think I should do, and what I think is correct. You must believe what you believe in and there are so many paradoxes along the way. We want a new generation of art lovers and supporters and people who influence society. So I’m very grateful they are on this journey with me, and to have this power in China. After all, why do expensive shows that don’t give us any benefit. I don’t believe in that.”
What will be his own definition of success? “When I can retire without worry,” he says. “When the programme and the institutions are good enough and the team is running itself. That’s my dream of success.” And then he gets objective about his situation. “But, if there’s another young person, then I too would question how legit they are, how serious, as anything new takes time to get used to. At least people are used to me already and aren’t surprised when I call up with something like this. And the result has been phenomenal”
I ask if there’s anything he hasn’t shared he’d like to convey before he saunters off to ride and drive the wave of his ambition. “It’s mainly about taking our power back and the new generation doing something interesting with our own content. I think that’s the key.”
And President Xi? “We would really like him to come, and I hope that when we do well he would want to come.” From X to X, the geo-cultural future starts here.

Photography Ricky Lo 

Art Direction Sepfry Ng 

Styling Zaneta Cheng 

Hair and Makeup Kidd Sun 

Photography Assistants Jason Li and Kelvin Sim

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