TWISSST - ISSUE - NUMBER ONE - ENGLISH EDITION by TWISSST

Model: Carlos Ferra Agency: Mayor Paris Photo: Laurent Humbert, Paris

Editor´s Letter

86 Days have gone by since TWISSST´s number zero issue. More than 94.000 page hits in 14 different countries, without the support of marketing strategies, is more than was expected. It appears that there is thankfully still a place for an independent publication based on solid information and artistic quality. We are now moving into December and have decided to opt for an unconventional editorial line for TWISSST´s no 1 issue. We go beyond fashion as a series of trends and embark on a serious study of the fashion industry, analyzing the startlingly positive macro-economic results of the PPR and LVMH power houses, owners of brands such as Gucci, Yves Saint Laurent, Louis Vuitton or Alexander McQueen.

“Purge”, which we review in this issue. We stop in Milan to take in the megalomaniac projects which are currently being produced by the world´s top architects for the Universal Exhibition to be held in 2015. Back in Madrid we review la Fura dels Baus´s untamed theatrical creativity, as the countdown to the completion of this edition begins: 104 pages of information and a new challenge, to keep our initial readers enthusiastic and to acquire many more Twisssters around the world!

For the 94.000 zero issue and we are sure we sue no 1, our

hits recieved for our for all the future hits will receive for our islast word is a huge

THANK YOU! We fall in love with the work of a French photographer and with the insouciance that our Independence affords us, we choose to dedicate the December cover to the Man. Laurent Humbert´s photograph of Carlos Ferra taken in Paris depicts in a superb manner the “new masculine look” emanating from the most relevant international catwalks. We attempt to understand Phoebe Philo, Celine´s creative director who in barely a few years has taken the Maison from fusty sleepiness to the forefront of the industry. Also from Paris, via Wetansfer, we present the extended Works of Laurent Humbert. We travel to Helsinki, where there appears to be a landscape for each individual. Incidentally, on a lazy reading afternoon we discovered the extraordinary novel of Finnish writer Sofi Oksanen:

Norberto Lopes Cabaço Editor in Chief and Creative Director

Ilustration: Ricardo Naranjo González

YVES

KLEIN THE OTHER YVES

Text: Jose Manuel Delgado Translation: Daniela Cataldo

elf-propaganda and megalomania have not only been characteristic conducts of some dictators and big politicians from the first half of the twentieth century. This quality, if we may say so, is as ancient as our civilisation. We can find examples in far ancient history, before the Stalins, Hitlers and Napoleons arose: in Egypt, Ramses II had invented propaganda as we know it today to boast his own image. As a matter of fact, it is not strange to find that all of us know or have heard the name of this pharaoh. Culture and arts have certainly not been immune against this phenomenon. The man that for sure knew best how to use this method in the world of arts was Yves Klein, surely not one of a few that considers himself irreplaceable in art history.

“© Yves Klein, ADAGP, Paris”

eing the son of artistic parents, both painters, Yves started his professional career as a judoka. This fact took influence in a direct manner on the entire oeuvre and his personal live. As a judoka he is familiar with Zen philosophy and oriental knowledge and emerges himself into it, clearly intrigued and influenced by the mist that it involves.

He was also familiar with the Rosicrucians, a French Christian sect from the end of the nineteenth century, provided with a mist that is based on searching the void, the liberty that heaven represents. Rites and mists are fundamental to understand Yves Klein’s artistic oeuvre. The first official appearance of Klein as a visual artist took place in

1955 when he exposed his monochrome Expression of the Universe of minium orange colour at the Salon des Réalités Nouvelles. The picture was rejected, because “one colour is not enough to build a picture”. The piece included in this retrospective is shown together with a series of monochromes, yellow, white, black, red, pink and green.

“© Yves Klein, ADAGP, Paris”

olour acquired absolute importance, going beyond drawing and form. He started using colours as a final goal, independent from either drawing or form. The colour as an instrument to materialise the immaterial, able to change and create sentiments. He takes away line and drawing, now lacking of sense. The roller he made his first instrument of creation, followed later on by fire and the human body. 1957 was the year of his honouring, when he arranged two simultaneous expositions in Paris in both the Iris Clert and the Colette Allende Gallery. He composed a symphony designated to lead through the exposition: a 20 minute permanent note followed by 20 minutes of silence. His monochrome exposition concentrates on the blue. He gave his name to a blue tone which is since known as the Klein Blue.

â&#x20AC;&#x153;ÂŠ Yves Klein, ADAGP, Parisâ&#x20AC;?

“© Yves Klein, ADAGP, Paris”

s a structured whole in different parts he developed his work. He staged his production in a manner to enlarge his personality and created his own époques: the blue, the pneumatic, the performance art epoch, etc. One of these incredible performance arts consisted in painting the obelisk of Paris in blue. Strangely, in the beginning he received permission, but in the last minute the government stopped the work. Here is where the artist’s influence ends. In 1958, he arranged a unique exposition in his fetish gallery with his fetish gallerist, Iris Clert, to celebrate his 30th birthday. He painted the whole interior of the gallery with a roller. Only the door and footways were saturated with Klein Blue. He let go of Klein Blue coloured balloons all over Paris days before the inauguration. Everything had been prepared to praise himself. He also, with the

“© Yves Klein, ADAGP, Paris”

help of some Parisian waiters, created a blue coloured Gin cocktail. The drink was served to all exposition guests and was taken while his creator Klein was explaining step by step, to small groups, the meaning of his work, an empty white painted room. The guests’ reactions were divided, some found they were cheated, others, astonished, were looking for the rests of lines or drawings on

the wall, others again were moved and yelled or cried that they had understood the goal of the oeuvre: The void. All of them had made part of an initiation rite in which Klein was the Messiah, the only way to comprehension of the work through his translation. They branded him as a charlatan, a prophet, a mad man. But one thing was clear: nobody remained indifferent.

fter that peak of his work, he started to make experiments with other colours, such as gold and pink, both having a religious meaning to the Rosicrucians. He also started to use fire; he literally burned canvases that were previously saturated with flammable liquid. This “staining the canvas” process was achieved by coating a nude model with the liquid, after which Yves would tell her what to do. These creative processes were open to the public and also filmed and accompanied by the monotonous orchestra. One could say, without doubt, that that was the birth of ‘art and ritual’.

“© Yves Klein, ADAGP, Paris”

ves fell into obsession with the void, searched anti-gravity through levitation, which he declared to have achieved repeatedly. As a peak of the void, he jumped from a third floor where his judoka students were waiting in order to hold him. They prepared a photomontage and made it public on Klein’s request. In 1962, his death at 34 years surprised his artist collective during a meeting, and the question that we ask ourselves is “how far he would have come?” Doubtlessly, he is an example of an artist that created himself, and who, without any outstanding level of artistic qualities, not only has made himself a place in art history, but also has been recognised as one of the most important artists of the twentieth century. The propaganda took effect.

“© Yves Klein, ADAGP, Paris”

Nuno Moreira e Marco Moreira ( Central Models, Lisbon) Photo by : Carla Pires

All people are born equal... then some become

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Staff Editor in Chief & Creative Director Norberto Lopes Cabaço norberto.lopes@twissst.com Foreign Editors Director Mauro Parisi mauro.parisi@twissst.com Twissst Polish Edition Responsible Weselina Gacińska wese.gacinska@twissst.com Editorial Coordinator Chloe Yakuza Architecture & Art Director Mauro Parisi mauro.parisi@twissst.com Graphic Designers David Lariño Torrens david.larino@twissst.com Claire Marie O’Donnell claire.odonnell@twissst.com

Foto Ryan Tansey

Editors Twissst English Edition Angela Velo Pérez Daniela Cataldo Clare Hodgson Twissst Italian Edition Giulia Chiaravallotti Francesco Marangon Twissst Polish Edition Weselina Gacińska Anna Golias Twissst Portuguese Edition Elis Porfirio Bernardo Saavedra Twissst Spanish Edition Elena Arteaga Benedicta Moya

Contributors Laurent Humbert, Eleonora Maggioni, Laura Parisi, Siu Cho Hang, Jaime G. Masip, Jose Manuel Delgado, Ricardo González Naranjo, Carlota Branco.

Twissst Magazine - Head Office Calle Gran Via, 57 7 F 28013, Madrid, Spain Tel: 34 910 072 973 hello@twissst.com www.twissst.com

La Fura Dels Baus

An approach to the creative impetus of the Total Theater company Texto: Eleonora Maggioni Translation: Angela Velo PĂŠrez

My first contact with the â&#x20AC;&#x153;Fura worldâ&#x20AC;? was almost by accident. On the eve of 2004, Genoa was the European Capital of Culture and that same night, la Fura was presenting the Naumon project, a light, sounds and dance performance. It was love at first sight, a real sensorial one. A 60m in length boat docked in the port of Genoa to the sound of the hypnotic Japanese drums with 150 people on board: acrobats, actors, dancers, experts and seamen. The port would become then in a huge stage hanging above the sea with great scenic design and choreographies, offering a rising climax of colors, sounds and acrobatics that would welcome the New Year. The journey had just begun. After Genoa, they visited twenty other ports all along the Mediterranean Sea and continued in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans.

A Taste of Titus Andronicus/Photo Francesca Sara Cauli

Metamorphosis

Neumon in Genova 2004

But when la Fura really surprised me was inside a theater some years later: due to their ability to modify a traditional stage by incorporating videos and other visual elements. In 2005, Fura dels Baus represented a free interpretation of Franz Kafkaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Metamorphosis in Japan. Only one year later, this performance would arrive in Madrid. This time, Fura chose a closer staging to Franz Kafkaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s most emblematic text, not to his performance. Despite the changes, they did not renounce the fusion with digital media. The scenic design was constantly evolving: a large transparent cube where Gregor Samsa used to live and where the contrast between the outside and inside world of the main character materialized; a table and a screen showing pictures serving to magnify the oniric and daydream atmosphere described by Kafka in his novel that resulted lancinating for the public.

Metamorfosis

The international success of La Fura Dels Bauls in the last thirty years is largely due to their inborn ability to bring the theater to a generally not interested audience. By using unusual spaces, their interaction with the public and the introduction of new technologies, this Catalan company has obtained recognition from the theater critics and from those who had never been interested in this world. In 1979, Marcel Antunez Roca, Quico Palomar, Carles Padrissa and Pere Tantinya started a company focused on street show and experimentation with movements and music. In the 80â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s, the company started approaching the theater, but always keeping their experimental vision and their main objective: to break out of classical theater tradition. Music, dance and introducing new materials and new technologies responded to the challenge. In the 90â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s, the company got involved with opera and large-scale performances after developing a performance for the opening ceremonies of Olympic Games in Barcelona in 1992.

Boris Godunov

They keep their experimentation during largescale performances, where their own language reaches huge spaces and public, such as the opening ceremonies for the Mediterranean Games celebrated in Almeria in 2005. From that moment, the company started getting a highly world recognition. In 2008, with â&#x20AC;&#x153;Boris Gudonovâ&#x20AC;?, the Fura is confirmated as pioneer in exploring different alternatives to the traditional Italianate theater: a performance in a traditional stage by creating a metatheatrical piece in its purest form. Starting from a critic/deliberation about the emerging totalitarian trend of some democratic states and about the fear to terrorism that has invaded western societies in recent years, the artistic director Alex OllĂŠ breaks out of the purist notion of theater by using film and audiovisual contributions. The audience becomes the protagonist: the viewers are the hostages and, despite the fact of knowing we are observing a fiction since the beginning, we face our own ghosts, forced to be involved in the story we are being witnesses of.

A Taste of Titus Andronicus

In 2010, with â&#x20AC;&#x153;A Taste of Titus Andronicusâ&#x20AC;?, the Fura came to their origins with a 100% Fura performance, where the interaction between the actors and the audience is the central axis. During this performance, a free adaptation of Shakespeare tragedy, the audience stands up during the whole show, surrounded by metal walkways where we can find the machines served to carry the actors. During the performance, two chefs are cooking different dishes that only about thirty people would be fortunate enough to taste them with the actors. A mixture of music, dance and perfumes extends all along the space trying to connect with the audience, who is waiting for the tragic end.

A Taste of Titus Andronicus /Photo Francesca Sara Cauli

Fura works keep going by experimenting in the film field (Fausto 5,0) and on the Internet, with a genre that the Catalan define as a digital theater: a mixture of «artists and bits». After getting in touch with the Opera world with the show «Oedipe!» in 2011, the Fura goes on with «Babylon, a machines tale», being premiered in October in the Bayerische Staatsoper, in Munich. At the end of 2012, we will be able to assist to Fura large-scale performances in three different countries: «Aphrodite and the Judgment of Paris» en Korea; «The Visit» en China y «The Hidden City» en Bucharest, Rumania.

A Taste of Titus Andronicus /Photo Francesca Sara Cauli

Laurent Humbert

Laurent Humbert was born in the South of France, in a small coastal city, Hyères, embellished by clean colours, rich light and formally known to host the International Festival of Fashion and Photography of Hyères. Perhaps, only perhaps, these factors were in part, determinant in this artist’s pathway.

At only 12 years of age, he portrayed his family and friends. It was then when Laurent realized the link he had with photography was indivisible. It was that first image that became the driving force of a whole training process, the curiosity for the revealing of that first image, proper of its early age, also revealed a curiosity, intrinsic, to the personality of this acclaimed photographer.

After graduating in Art and Communication, Laurent left his home town and moved to Paris, where he developed his own creative process and dug into experimentation. He created a signature, his images enlight the artistic DNA of the man behind the camera. Lacoste, Zara, Dim or Lancel are among his clients, and allow him to gather as positive as numerous critics from media such as “Le Figaro”,”L’express”,”L una”,” Tetu” or “GQ”. The fact that Laurent Humbert had and keep earning the appreciation and recognition from both Parisian and international brands is thanks to years of investigation and the creation of exceptional emotional images that don´t require accessories.

Unconditional supporter of a “Less is more” concept and of a “clean” aesthetics, Laurent’s work reminds us of Cristóbal Balenciaga maxim: « A couturier must be an architect of design, a sculpture for shape, a painter for colour, a musician for harmony and a philosopher for temperance». We defend the quote, and the applicability to too many different areas, certainly in photography and with no regrets, to Laurent’s work. For this, for what it represents and for signing the cover of Twissst’s first edition, Merci Monsieur Humbert!

Norberto Jose Lopes Cabaço

The New Milan, step by step

Text: Laura Parisi Translation: Daniela Cataldo

Since Milan was awarded to organise the â&#x20AC;&#x153;Universal Exposition 2015â&#x20AC;? on March 31, 2008, the restyling of the city seems to be unstoppable. The Lombard capital is changing its face and the citizens have almost become accustomed to the presence of urban construction sites all over the city.

Palazzo Regione Lombardia. Photo: Simone Utzeri

From Porta Nuova to the Cascina Merlata, from the former Excelsior cinema to “Bosco Verticale”, from the new regional authority seat to the “Citylife” complex and from the redevelopment of the railway stations to the military barracks and old industrial areas, Milan seems to have overcome the endless, typical Italian debate about the primacy of conservation and traditional style on one hand and the way towards modernity and the image of a forward looking internationalh metropolis on the other.

Three years from the inauguration of the Expo, in order to experience what the finalised exposition area will effectively look like, we went to visit the economic capital of Italy. In spite of delays and some controversial issues, the urban changes and modifications are contributing to a new future Milan.

Palazzo Regione Lombardia. Photo: Meravigliosopericoloso

We began our walk were the changes were already visible. In 2009, Milan has seen the inauguration of the new Lombardy regional offices. Built on 30,000 square meters by 700 workers, 24 hours a day, the project was carried out by the Pei Cobb Freed & Partners architecture firm based in New York City.

Palazzo Regione Lombardia. Photo: Meravigliosopericoloso

In four 9-floor buildings with curved lines grouped around a central tower of 39 floors, all the city administrative departments previously scattered across the city, are now centralised without abandoning the original location in the Pirelli skyscraper.

Also in 2009 has been opened the hotel located in the two towers designed by French architect Dominique Perrault, 72 meters and 65 meters respectively with an inclination of 5 degrees: The bigger tower bends towards Fieramilano, the lower one towards the city centre. This movement, together with the chromatic contrast between the black coloured facades and the aluminium gold look of the cylindrical element provides with a strong personality to the architectonic whole. Hotel NH. Photo: Roberto Arsuffi (Urbanfile.it)

Back in the city centre, just above the Porta Garibaldi station, we are able to admire the â&#x20AC;&#x153;Centro Direzionale di Porta Garibaldiâ&#x20AC;?. The two old towers of the national railway from the 1980s, after an almost finalised re-cladding process, have been completely transformed, taking into account the most modern ecocompatible architectural techniques (photovoltaic panels on the facades, solar panels on the roof and thermal protection glass). Aesthetically, the special arrangement of the glass on the faĂ§ades, providing a thousand different reflexes, suggests the shine of a diamond.

Facade detail of Torre Garibaldi. Photo: Simone Utzeri

The urban redevelopment project follows the standards of sustainable architecture and in the new Milan, the culture of public green areas are fundamental. An example for that is the Portello district of 400,000 square meters: Where the Alfa Romeo and Lancia factories were located, a conversion plan is being carried out in order to build a 70,000 square meters large park, developed by Andreas Kipar and Charles Jenks, open to the public from this autumn.

Parco Portello. Photo: University2night.it

The central elements of the park are two hillocks built with rubble from the area: one spiral-shaped with a lake in one of its indentations, the other coneshaped with two footpaths that cross the hillock without intersecting each other and a sculpture park.

Another goal of 2011 has been the completion of the historic RCS seat in Crescenzago developed by the architectural firm Boeri, by Barreca and LaVarra, transforming the building into the headquarter of the multimedia group.

In the Garibaldi - Repubblica area, some last details of the redevelopment project are being completed. The project is led by Cesar Pelli who; with his “Fashion City“, has designed a pedestrian district with a vast park, an impressive podiumsquare of 100 meters diameter and 6 square meters above the road surface, and eco-sustainable buildings made of glass and steel. Between them, a tower of 145 meters (200 m considering the banner), will stick out.

Torre Cesar Pelli. Photo: Roberto Arsuffi

Residential and office buildings will be added to the square as well as spaces dedicated to fashion and creativity, a big hotel, and numerous commercial premises.

Città della Moda. Photo: Cityfile.it

Diamantone. Photo: Urbanfile.it

Close to that area, in Porto Nova -Varesina, another commercial centre is rising up, a tower that is already marking the Milan skyline: the â&#x20AC;&#x153;Diamondâ&#x20AC;?, developed by KPF from New York, with its peculiar form, the overhanging principal faĂ§ade. The focus of the Diamond stays in the energy-saving measures which earned the most prestigious prize in the architectural ecosustainable field.

Fondazione Feltrinelli. Photo: Designboom,com

Mirando Having a look at some future projects, one understands that the current urban development will provide the city with a legacy of new cultural and exhibition platforms that are characteristic for a true cultural capital. In 2013, for instance, Porta Volta will be totally redesigned by the Swiss architect Jacques Herzog. Two twin buildings will embrace the old city gate, giving space to the Feltrinelli Foundationsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; headquarter, library

Fondazione Feltrinelli. Photo: Designboom,com

and archives. At street level, both towers will offer to the citizens a recovered area with the publishing house bookstore, shops and restaurants.

hAs stressed by the architect himself, the hints and references to Milanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s architectural history are many: from the reinterpretation of the twin buildings as gateway to emblematic squares such as Piazza Duomo or Piazza Duca dâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Aosta, to the longitudinal constructions that are typical for the Lombard region or the allusions to the pointed arches of gothic architecture.

Fondazione Prada photo courtesy of DesignBoom Foindazioen Prada Attilio Maranzano

In 2014, one can admire the master work of the Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas, who in the old industrial area of Via Ripamonti, will bring life to the Contemporary Arts Centre commissioned by the Prada Foundation. An asymmetric tower, serving as warehouse for their artworks, will preside a totally recovered area of a former distillery whose space can be used flexibly: a â&#x20AC;&#x153;cubeâ&#x20AC;? in the centre of the patio that can be used as an open air cinema, an auditorium, a performances area or as control centre.

Fondazione Prada DesignBoom

At Porta Ticinese, the “City of Cultures” by Chipperfield inside the former Ansaldo factory, is designed for the development of a vast cultural conglomerate formed by the new Archaeological Museum, the Study of Visual Arts Centre and the traditional marionette laboratory. From an architectonical point of view, the recuperation of some of the existing buildings will be combined by the developing of a new complex in which will be located the Centre of Extra-European Culture with exposition areas on the first floor as well as a bookshop, cafeterias, restaurants, an auditorium and a library.

Another main attraction in 2014 will be the historic Isola district, once the projects will be finalised. The two residential towers of 105 meters and 78 meters each, better known as the “Vertical Forrest” by Boeri, will be definitely outstanding with its trees and shrubs growing on every floor in order to absorb contamination and produce oxygen.

Bosco Verticale. Photo: Bernard Peissel

Citylife - Tre Torri.

In that year we will also see the development of the much commentated “Citylife”, the impressive residential, business and shopping complex that is being built on the area of the former trade fair centre (Fiera di Milano). It doubtlessly will influence the image of a new Milan, due also to the internationally renowned authors of three of the planned skyscrapers and colloquial known as “il Dritto” (the “Straight” by Arata Isozaki), “lo Storto” (the “Twisted” by Zaha Hadid) and “Il Curvo” (The “Curved” by Daniel Libeskind).

The project will be finalised with different residential solutions designed by the same architects, a Contemporary Arts Museum by Libeskind and the Palazzo delle Scintille (Palace of Sparks), a cultural space dedicated to infants and elderly people, hosted inside the only intact building from the former trade fair centre.

As soon as all these projects will be reality, Milan will doubtlessly be converted into a new contemporary architectural reference in Europe, something that really was a need, taking into account the city’s undisputable importance in the world of design and vanguards. Citylife - Tre Torri.

The Business

of Fashion 56

How to be an ‘indie’ fashion designer and not die trying.

When

we started to think about how to approach management in fashion business, we believed it necessary to make a change in the role of the creator towards the figure of creator/Manager, fundamental for the success of a newly founded brand or one outside the protective orbit of a holding company. To deal with the financial résumés of the big fishes in fashion industry and to write a text that would uncover the other side of the fashion phenomenon, the one that does not appear either in pictures or backstage, but that feeds them, seemed fundamental to us. Showing contrasts, causing reactions, whether in favor or not. While global brands grow in a vertiginous manner in half-yearly intervals on the local or world market, recognised designers with established brands are having a hard time.

Text:Norberto Lopes Cabaço Translation: Daniela Cataldo and Clare Hodgson

A The fashion industry is facing well known difficulties, especially in Spain: David Delfin has closed his shop in the heart of Madrid. Carmen March has put on hold activities for her own brand to take over the creative management of Pedro del Hierro. And the financial difficulties that Victorio & Lucchino are apparently currently experiencing are generating remarks from all sectors of the fashion world. While the difficulties for fashion designers with already established brands are many, the challenges faced by new designers are daunting. Although they are able to design for days on end and meet the rigorous deadlines of the national and international calendar, the vast majority of new creators are perfectly ignorant of the business they belong to. None of the creators we talked to in order to tackle the subject had any professional background in business planning, how to develop a brand, internationalise an idea or establish an income forecast in space and time. They confessed to feeling insecure about setting prices for their garments and, due to the familiar surroundings in which they move, they find it complicated to prepare a collection with a sufficient number of units to guarantee a cash-flow for their investments. Education, schools and universities, and different fashion platforms are not usually establishing links to one another. Education and divulgation are two parallel processes and neither seems to take into account professional commercial actions adapted to the universe of each creator. The fashion designer of the XXIst century must abandon the idea of creating for creation´s sake, of being ‘indie’ and making a living from his art, as anyone in any other professional sector will understand. Being ‘indie’ and owning an established business means not to depend on sponsorships or impossible partnerships in exchange for a budget that allows survival.

It is inconceivable that only a few of these designers, ambassadors at the forefront of creativity, acting in a global society, have functioning websites or online shops. Only a small number had developed an accessories line. And even fewer have a distribution network or do regular direct marketing campaigns. Reality tells us how urgently we need to reverse this trend. The past confirms that fashion designers such as Valentino or Giorgio Armani only came to glory when they accepted that management was something as important as their expertise. And the present tells us that creators prospering individually on a global level are rare, especially in Europe.

At the present, global fashion is behaving contrary to this scenario, and the figures speak for themselves. €14 billion, again, €14 billion was LVMHs’ (Louis Vuitton Möet Hennessy) and the PPR Groups’ (PinaultPrintemps-Redoute) revenue in 2011. And €14 billion do not materialise thanks to a small consumer ‘élite’, but due to fashion having generated a global business, far away from the “democratisation of fashion”, predicted by many, characterised by a considerably less elegant but truer phenomenon: the “democratisation of the necessity” of fashion consumption.

PPR and LVMH coordinate, monopolise and share the majority of the world biggest fashion brands, and the ensuing result is only possible by developing a meticulous and detailed business plan. Perhaps this tough and unglamourous vision belies the idea that fashion design is a creative experiment transformed into reality but there is still it is a story to be told. Fashion is ruled by budgets and timelines, cash-flows and forecasts and is, just as any other commercial business, aiming for profit and persistence. Fashions is about a business that happens to be fashion: a detailed knowledge of consumer trends regarding pieces, seasons, cities and countries, bestselling colours and preferred materials, being aware of

the brands’ philosophy and target market. All this is why these two major groups lead the commercialisation of the so called Luxury Market. In a time of crisis, French multinational PPR which is dedicated to global business in the luxury and the sport & lifestyle sector and is the holder of brands such as Gucci, Yves Saint Laurent, Balenciaga, Alexander McQueen, Stella McCartney and Bottega Veneta, shows vertiginous and extraordinary sales figures. The key figures in 2011 in the luxury sector were by themselves worthy of note: €4.9 billion in revenue, 13,500 employees and 801 fashion stores were shown in the PPRs’ 2011 end results.

3 brands have generated 85% of their income:

GUCCI

The brand has a revenue of â&#x201A;Ź3.14 billion and counts 376 direct fashion stores. It amounts to 63.9% of the total annual income. The brand, currently headed by Frida Giannini, weakens any other brand and if 2011 was a positive year, 2012, is currently showing exceptional results. In the first half of the 2012 fiscal year, Gucci had a â&#x201A;Ź1.73 billion turnover, 17.6% higher than the same period in 2011 and represented 59% of the total semi-annual revenue in 2012.

BOTTEGA VENETA

Tomas Meier took over the creativity management in June 2001, when the brand, founded in Vicenza (Italy) in 1966, were taken over by the PPR group. Since then, with extensive work and a practical vision of luxury, the brand has risen to a global level. In 2011 the financial year closed with a total â&#x201A;Ź683 billion turnover and 170 direct points of sale. In the first half-year of 2012, the turnover rose to â&#x201A;Ź429.5 million (an increase of 44.3% with regards to 2011) which is 14.7% of the halfyearly revenue.

YVES SAINT LAURENT

With a €354 million turnover in 2011 and 83 direct stores, the groups’ figures increased by 7.2% in revenue. The first semi-annual financial statement was closed with an incredible 46.4% increase with respect to the first semester of 2011, confirming the good health of the brand in terms of creativity and finance. The brand was created in the 1960s by the incomparable Monsieur Yves Saint Laurent, headed until recently by Stefano Pilati and now in the expert hands of Mr. Slimane. €223.5 million turnover is the result of Maison Yves Saint Laurent, which brings it up to the third position in the PPR brand ranking.

Balenciaga, Alexander McQueen, Stella McCartney, Brioni and Boucheron make up the remaining 15% of the groups’ income and although it may seem strange, some of the most acclaimed brands by fashionists are the little sisters within the same acclaimed group. Their role is different, but with respect to volume their importance is similar.

LVMH (Louis Vuitton Möet Hennessy), multinational Group and holder of more than 60 brands, presided by Bernard Arnault did not present results by brands but by sectors and business instead. Within the sector of fashion and leather goods the figures are equally impressive. The result for 2011 was €8.7 billion. €4.6 billion in revenue for the first half of the 2012 financial year represents an increase of 17% with regards to the same period of the previous year.

The holder Group of Louis Vuitton, Marc Jacobs, Fendi, Céline, Givenchy, Loewe, Donna Karan or Kenzo has maintained the lead in revenue in the first months of the current year in Asia (excluding Japan) and represents 33% of the global value. The US represent 19%, Europe (excluding France) 18%, Japan 14%, France 8% and the remaining markets 8%.

LOUIS VUITTON

All over the world, 43 new stores opened last year (between June 2011 and June 2012), that is to say 3.58 shops per month. According to a Group press release Louis Vuitton, the groups’ main economic motor, won again, in each and every one of the business lines, a benefit of two digits (without specific details). The sales indicators for Chinese and American clients were crucial: in Europe, it is the tourists visiting Maison Vuitton who guarantee a positive result. The groups’ efforts to open new, spectacular spaces such as the first Vuitton flagship in Italy, “Roma Etoile”, and the opening of a boutique in Amman, establishing the brand for the first time in Jordan come as no surprise.

FENDI

FENDI, founded in 1925 in Rome by Edoardo and Adele Fendi and currently designed by the infamous Karl Lagerfeld, is in good health, too. The masculine garment line achieved an important increase in terms of sales, and the iconic baguette handbag, that celebrates its 15th anniversary this year, increased its results. With the opening of new stores in Mexico and China, the Group fortified Fendisâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; international presence.

CÉLINE

CÉLINE, a French brand created in 1945, was initially dedicated to the manufacturing of children’s’ shoes. After having grown in the 1960s with the opening of a garment line for adults with an unmistakable Parisian character, sporty and chic at the same time, Céline Vipiana dedicated herself to a plan of expansion and internationalisation until 1997, when Michael Kors assumed the artistic management of the brand. After his leaving in 2004, the brand suffered an important setback resulting in an endless coming and going of creative directors until the arrival of the extraordinary Phoebe Philo in 2008. After only a few collections Philo has successfully placed Céline at the forefront of French avant-garde fashion. And it seems that fashionists are staying faithful. The Group made the words “performed remarkably well across all its markets” their own, and achieved the expansion goal with the opening of new own shops in Madison Avenue, New York.

Donna Karan, too, achieved a sustained increase that was in part due to the positive results of the accessory line and DKNY Jeans. Brands such as Loewe, Marc Jacobs, Givenchy, Pucci o Kenzo also achieved a “green flag”, as the results have met expectations, especially for Kenzo that regained momentum due to the good acceptance of the collections designed by the duo Carol Lim and Humberto Leon, whom have brought some fresh air and youth to the brand created by Kenzo Takada.

When we speak of global fashion, we must see fashion in a position of equality. Certainly, it does not make sense to compare both realities, but what makes sense is applying the same rules and methods to the dimension of each business. It is about planning and creating a strategy for the consecration of a project. What fosters this new reality and enables the distribution of its benefits, is education, schools, divulgation platforms, press offices and the media, the creators and their human potential. “Fashion is not something that exists in dresses only. Fashion is in the sky, in the street, fashion has to do with ideas, the way we live, what is happening” Coco Chanel

The secrets hidden in the silence Text: Mauro Parisi Translation: Daniela Cataldo

Aliide focused her mind on stockings all the way home - not Ingel, not Linda, not anything that has happened. She recited different kinds of stockings out loud: silk stockings, cotton stockings, dark brown stockings, black stockings, pink stockings, gray stockings, wool stackings, sausage stockings. The shed loomed in front of her, dawn broke – children’s stockings - she had circled around the pasture to the back of the house – embroidered stockings, factory stockings, stockings worth two kilos of butter, stocking worth three jars of honey, two days’ pay...

Photograph: Dimitri Korobtsov

The secrets hidden in the silcence

I usually get carried away by the appearance of a book. The times I don’t pick a book just because of critic’s book reviews, I let cover pictures seduce me to read their stories. That is exactly what happened when I first saw Sofi Oksanen Purge´s Spanish edition: such a “simple” cover got my attention and the clearly Nordic author’s name and the summary of the story caught me completely.

Purge is a story of two women’s ups and downs, only different because of their ages and past experiences whose paths cross on a wet late summer morning. Zara is a Russian girl that, escaping from the trafficking of women, turns up exhausted and disoriented in Allide’s garden. Allide is an elderly woman who lives alone in a remote part of Estonia. They are both suspicious; they are both women with difficult pasts, aware of ever lurking dangers. This distrust gives way to different feelings when they realize fear is not the only thing they have in common.

We witness the sad and harsh realities of women´s sex trade in the countries of the former Soviet Union and the backdrop of the Soviet and Nazi occupation of Estonia, being aware of all the consequences this may have meant for the society. Oksanen’ style is quick, rough, with short chapters and no attempt to make up reality. She lead us to a story where lives aren’t worthy but by a high desire; fears and abuses, secrets kept to survive and all the sacrifice entailed are all present in her work. They stay in our memory even after having read the book.

The story then continues with a series of flashbacks from both Zara and Aliide’s past lives, leading us to a novel that gets close to a thriller, gripping us to the end. What is striking about this novel is the setting chosen by the author; a peaceful countryside residence of an elderly woman, with the traditional household smells and the rhythms marked by the preparation of jams and stews. This scenario offers us a haven of peace against the harshness of both women’s past histories. Purge’s success is based on those sometimes rough details. Oksanen confirms this by recognising that her objective is that “the reader gets into the story through visual and sensorial information; that he or she feels things from a material point of view”. Everything has its own meaning and place in the novel. The presence of plenty of jars in Aliide’s house and her perseverance in making canned foods is a wink to the Soviet Union´s decline and Estonia´s recovered independence, when the county ran out of reserves and people started home production to avoid a shortage of supplies.

Illustrations: Ricardo González Naranjo

Photograph: Anneli Alekand

Purge is the third novel of this Finnish-Estonian contemporary writer. She first studied Literature, and after becoming exhausted of analysing other people’s work, she started to explore how to express her own concerns at the Finnish National Theatre, where she studied drama.

With her first novel, “Stalin’s Cows”, she received acclaim from both the public and the Finnish critics, but her masterpiece is Purge. Thanks to this best seller, she received the Prix Femina Étranger award in France and the Nordic Council Literature Prize in 2010.

Thanks to her, we gained access to Finnish contemporary literature and it was a really nice discovery and surprise, because of the topics covered in her work and the sharpness of her style we are sure that we won’t miss the opportunity to get inside Sofi Oksanen’s world.

Phoebe Philo Text: Norberto Lopes Cabaรงo Translation: Daniela Cataldo

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“One of the reasons why I try to use fabrics and cuts that don’t go out of fashion is because I like the idea of women buying the clothes and then...I don’t know what the word is...cherish sounds over-emotional for a relationship with a piece of clothing...but for a woman to feel proud, satisfied, comfortable and powerful in them, to wear them and get on with their lives.”

Rarely, so little words have said so much about the vision of a fashion designer. That is who Phoebe Philo is; she highlights what is necessary, and therein lies her success. Phoebe Philo created an unbreakable yarn between modern women and contemporary fashion. The modern woman in need for practical answers to urban living, fast and multitasking, and Philo provided that answer.

Born in Paris and naturalised as a British citizen, Philo graduated in 1996 at the Central Saint Martins College of Arts and Design in London. In 1997, she started to work for Chloé as an assistant to Stella McCartney. The relationship between the two was highly positive. Philo provided Chloé with an effortless chic look, and a legion of avid followers for a clothing line with practical use, wearable seven days per week. That happened to be the best publicity a designer could obtain. A clothing line on the street based on Philo’s winning idea that has driven forward an entire industry.

The relationship between Philo and McCartney was so productive that Philo finally succeeded her as Creative Director in 2001, when the Gucci Group supported McCartney in her idea to create and develop a clothing line under her own name. During this period, Philo designed iconic pieces, such as the Paddington, the Edith-Bag, or the high waisted Chloé high jeans that Kate Moss, Kylie Minouge, Geri Halliwell, and others, quickly adopted as must haves in their wardrobes. Philo continued to strengthen the Chloé brand as a global standard, until she announced in January 2006 that she would leave the position as Creative Director. Philo thus ended her relationship with Chloé in order to take a sabbatical and organize her priorities.

In September 2008, she succeeded Ivana Omazic as the Creative Director of the decidedly old fashioned brand Céline. The opportunity that every designer aspires to arose: having free hand to develop an established brand, protected by a big luxury group, in order to bring up a new aesthetic vision. When Bernard Arnault, president of the LVMH Group (Louis Vuitton Moet Henessy), announced the expected change at Céline, Phoebe Philo confirmed: “This is a really exciting step for me to be taking, with what could be seen as one of the most promising brands of the industry. I can’t wait to step back into the studio and begin creating designs which will reinvigorate the brand, get customers excited about the product and work with a team that are incredibly serious and passionate about their work.” Phoebe Philo knew that the critics’ eyes would be on her from the front row, and when the first collection came out in June 2009, she took great attention to the details in order to satisfy their expectations. She selected the production factories carefully and decided in favour of Italian factories instead of French. She wanted the process to be more clinical rather than ‘couture’. She designed a generous accessory collection and presented a portable line, strong, with a firm commitment to forms and architecture, this would act as a conductor throughout the whole process of creation.

Her Resort collection gained the best international critics and CĂŠlinesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; future appeared to be bright and confident. Phoebe Philo has continued to work for CĂŠline, to make it a truly global brand. In terms of creativity as well as financially, the brand has improved its position and enjoys today a much deserved recognition. Phoebe Philo is a woman with a global vision, a fashion designer, a trendsetter who reinvented a look only a few were committed to.

She provided the brand with a genuine street sensitivity, a mannish touch that characterises the CĂŠline look and that the brand had adopted already in previous editions, resulting in an Ăźber-feminine, strong and balanced look. There are no cracks in the prĂŞt-a-porter accessories collections, they appear perfectly identifiable and if we take into account that this perseverance and homogeneity have been achieved in only four years, the result is even more surprising.

Céline is a renewed brand, global and established. Today, its collections are cult pieces, a real declaration of intentions. Phoebe Philo is still in charge of leading a brand that never before has been at such a forefront of design. Is it true than that ‘less is more’? Well, so it seems....

A visit to the Remote North: Helsinki Text: Weselina GaciĹ&#x201E;ska Translation: Daniela Cataldo Photos: Jaime G. Masip

The approach to the port of Helsinki is probably the most symbolic view of the city, taking in the church of Tuomiokirkko watching over the presidential palace.

egardless the reason for a journey and independent from the season of the year, the capital of Finland amazes visitors with its serenity and classicistic architecture that combines Russian and Swedish influences. We went on a trip to Helsinki in May. Apart from visiting the city, we wanted to participate at the local studentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; festival called Vappu. Basically, the model of Helsinki is based on San Petersburg. While belonging to the Russian Empire between 1809 and 1918, Helsinki adopted the contemporary style of the time, providing the city with an exceptional character, incomparable with other Scandinavian capitals.

e began our trip through Helsinki at the city’s landmark, the white evangelical cathedral Tuomiokirkko that dominates the city and constitutes the most characteristic element of the urban landscape. The majestic construction stands in contrast with its modest and plain interior, lit only by a few lampposts. Nonetheless, when Vappu begins on April 30, the cathedral turns into the meeting point for Helsinki University students. The celebrations start at six o’clock in the evening, when a select group of students puts a white cap onto Havis Amanda, the modernist symbol of the city. Hundreds of people meet all around the nude female statue, dressed up in coloured cloth and wearing the same cap. According to tradition, everybody having obtained the bachelor’s degree, has the right to put on that accessory during Vappu. After that, the multitude goes towards the cathedral.

The Tuomiokrikko stairs at the start of Vappu are a meeting point and a place of celebrations.

he unaccustomed participant of the celebrations, can not but admire the original fancy dresses that reminds of carnival in spring. The festival last until May 1 and is celebrated with concerts and parties held on the university campuses and the centrally located Kaivopuisto Park.

Helsinkiâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s city centre is quite small and all important spots of interest are at walking distance. At the harbour, a few steps from Tuomiokirkko, you find the Uspensky cathedral, the biggest Orthodox Church in Europe outside the Russian territory. It is worth a visit. Apart from the exuberant interiors, it offers a view over South Harbour and the historic centre. On our way to the harbour, we reached Esplanadi and passed by the presidential palace and the city hall. In front of the palace, street market lovers may taste the local specialities or buy traditional Finnish artisan works made of leather or wool. At the kauppatori stalls you even may buy fresh fish directly from the boat.

Not even the three blacksmiths, symbolising work and human cooperation, are spared wearing VappuÂ´s white cap during celebrations.

Who will not be persuaded to try the specialities here may want to go to a modernist kauppahali market. The elaborate mahogany decoration adheres to the Art Nouveau style, and a wide culinary range offers a large number of delicacies to choose from, such as traditional fish specialities, reindeer meat and Russian caviar. The market is always visited by a lot of people, but it is worth staying for a while and to taste some of the authentic Finnish delicacies.

everal times a day, ships go from South Harbour to the Swedish fortress Suomenlinna. Built in 1748 on five islands, it once protected the city entrance from the sea. Large parts of the city walls still exist and a defence earth embankment with artillery pieces and some of the military buildings have been transformed into museums and galleries. The Toy Museum is one of the curiosities of the island. In this little family-run museum are shown over a thousand dolls, teddy-bears and toys from all over Europe. The most antique toy of its collection is a doll from 1830. A daytrip to Suomenlinna is particularly recommended on a sunny afternoon. Numerous paths close to the coast, the museums and a series of cafeterias guarantee a pleasant rest.

The maritime culture is apparent in many corners of Helsinki, remnants of the trading origins of the Finnish people.

Docks and leisure moorings surround the city. In the background the Uspensky Cathedral and other nineteenth century buildings.

emember, while visiting Finland, Helsinki not only stands for modernism or the Scandinavian classicism. Due to the strong presence of design in urban spaces, Helsinki has been given the Title of World Capital Design 2012. The majority of the work-shops, conferences and expositions are held here and in the nearby city of Espoo. For the sake of distinction, new architectural projects are being developed in the capital. One of them is the â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;chapel of silenceâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; in Narinkka Square. This innovative wooden project offers a peaceful place to enjoy a relaxing moment in the heart of the city. We recommend making a day of your journey to visit Porvoo, one of the most ancient cities at the Finnish south coast. You can travel by bus or coach, but the most picturesque itinerary would be by ship. The trip over the sea is the best way to admire the coastline, its forests and the many little islands. In Porvoo, the obligatory walk will lead you through the narrow brick paved streets. Your visit to the old town Vanha Porvoo, should begin with the medieval church Tuomiokirkko from the 15th century.

In Porvoo the traveller will appreciate the calm of the Finnish provinces /countryside

or many hundred years, this monument has suffered several times from fire damage and destruction. Being restored, today it is a tourist attraction and a place of utmost historic significance. It was here that in 1809, Tsar Alexander I proclaimed the Grand Duchy of Finland and convened the first Finnish parliament. Urban history, a complex relation with the Russian Empire and a collection of everyday objects imported from Russia in the 19th century are shown in the town museum in the Porvoo main square. You can not miss the charming old town, as all the small streets are leading towards the main square or the river. The pastel shade little cottages give you an impression of being in the peaceful province of Finland and not in the industrial South. It seems that time stands still in Porvoo, you may not find the typical souvenirs or tourist attractions in the town centre. Nonetheless, you may appreciate to take a rest in a cafeteria, have pastry with traditional jam, taste some of the unique forest fruits and enjoy the serenity.

o finish your walk, you may like to go round the river and enjoy the idyllic view over the village. By good weather, the sun extracts the delicate colours and Porvoo appears as a delightful impressionist picture. In the South of Finland, the intrigued traveller may find many contrasts: unique landscapes, industrial centres, small villages on countless islands, and impressive towns and cities like Helsinki and Porvoo. We would like to encourage you to break with the stereotypes of a remote North and get to know the Finnish coast.

The streets of Helsinkiâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s city centre present and unmistakable architectural mix of Scandinavian and Russian styles.

Culture Calendar Text: Jose Manuel Delgado, Giulia Chiaravallotti Translation: Angela Velo Pérez

JEAN PAUL GAULTIER, The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier: From the Sidewalk to the Catwalk (Until January 6, 2013. MAPFRE Foundation, Madrid, Spain) It attempts to be a chronological exhibition of the most pampered “enfant terrible” of Parisian Style. It focuses on the evolution of his style and his concept of Fashion. Produced by the Musée des Beaux Arts of Montreal, and in association with the same Fashion brand, it is the first international show devoted to the French designer out of France. The exhibition includes 110 pieces of haute couture and prêt-à-porter and 50 study prints and catwalks extracts and interviews to the designer. The retrospective begins with “The Odyssey” and his unmistakeable sailors and mermaids, the mark of his collections. After that, we can find all his influences since an early age: his corsets and garters, made freed from that restrained area typical of privacy, are a characteristic of this period that will long all along his artistic production. The humoristic part, an essential element when we talk about Jean Paul Gaultier, is ensured by the presence of 30 clothes-horses that, through different projections, own faces and voices of world-known famous people, friends of the designer; a “masquerade” which the same Jean Paul Gaultier himself takes part in. Not to be missed!

Cortesia fundación mapfre

Fernando Botero: A Celebration (Until January 20, 2013 at BBK Room, Bilbao Fine Arts Museum) For the lovers of vital and exuberant sensuality of this acclaimed Colombian artist, this is an exhibition no to be missed. A true anthology of his art career, including 79 paintings and one sculpture: “Horse with Brides”, displaying in the city’s Gran Via, Bilbao, outside the head offices of the Basque savings bank sponsoring the exposition. The city honours the sculptor with the celebration of his 80 years of life, where we can see his art evolution through some of the exposed works from the last 60 years, including paintings, sculpture and drawing. Lina Botero, the artist’s daughter has written the catalogue, which also includes contributions from two of the most important Latin-American writers and Botero’s friends: the Nobel Carlos Fuentes and Mario Vargas Llosa.

Wassily Kandinsky, Dalla Russia all’Europa (Until February 3, 2013 in Pisa, at the Blu Palazzo d’Arte e Cultura, Italy). Through fifty works of Abstracts Russian master, drawn from the collections of the Museum in St. Petersburg and other Russian art institutions, we will be able to get closed to the first art years of the Russian painter. This exhibition dates from 1901 to 1922: since he started his pictorial career, when he abandoned his ethnographic studies, which led him to the most remote Russian Empire’s countryside, to 1922, when he decides to flee Soviet Russia to take up an invitation from Walter Gropius to teach at the Bauhaus. This exposition opens with an unpublished section devoted to his early work, characterized by the Russian folklore influences. After that, he started to develop a symbolist atmosphere in his paintings, a period known as “Murnau”. Finally, we can also find his most media works, where he found a connection between the occidental vanguards and the Larionov or Goncharova’s one.

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Pre-Raphaelites: Victorian Avant-Garde, Tate Britain, Londres. (From September 12, 2012 to January 13, 2013) This usual exhibition in Great Britain, bringing together over 150 works in painting, sculpture, photography and the applied arts, is lead by the PreRaphaelite Brotherhood, the first huge movement of modern art in Great Britain, was born after the 1846 economic crisis. Led by Dante Gabriel Rossetti, William Holman Hunt and John Everett Millais, the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood rebelled against the art establishment of the mid-nineteenth century, taking inspiration from early Renaissance painting (before Raphael), made high pictorial quality and acceptable works, highly improved by colors, mostly the cold ones, glorifying the mysticism of the different images. In this early Renaissance, they looked for a guide to a more virtuous and Christian life, as they only knew corruption, represented by the inhospitable and brutal industrial society at the time. We will see the Millais’s first painting “en plein air”, entitled Ferdinand Lured by Ariel (1849-50), one of the seven creators of this brotherhood.

Museum of Bags and Purses, Amsterdam, (Until March 10, 2013) The Museum of Bags and Purses is located in a Herengracht canal house built in 1664 in Amsterdam downtown. The Museum has more than 4000 bags, wallets, suitcases, purses and accessories dating back to the end of until today. This is the largest museum across the globe specialized in the field. The aim of this Museum is to study the bag and its complete history: forms, functions and materials, giving special attention to the history of each piece and what it has to say about the fashion and style of the time. The bags with the most unusual forms started back in the XIX century and the imagination of designers followed the new technologies. With fan, shark, house, car, flower or vase-shaped bags, this museum proves us that design and creativity are eternal values in society construction.

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Małopolska Garden of Arts (From October 19, 2012 in Krakow, Poland) Maybe the most international Poland’s city opens a new place for culture and entertainment by inaugurating the Małopolski Ogród Sztuk (Małopolska Garden of Arts) in the historic heart of the city. It aspires to become the Kraków’s Pompidou Centre. Because of a last decade’s will to not allow abandoned spaces in the city centre, we can admire the transformation of an old building used as a former horse riding school and a theatre stage later into an spectacular structure with a glass and transparency predominance, reminding to a greenhouse. The glass façade, revealing fragments of the original walls, leads to a discreetly recovered and lush garden, a metaphor of the richness and cultural offer diversity of this new structure to the city.

As Idades do Mar (The ages of the sea) (Until January 23, 2013 at the Calouste Gulbenkian Museum, Lisbon, Portugal) Only Lisbon could host an exhibition exclusively dedicated to the sea and the meaning of this essential element over the course of history and art history. With the precious collaboration of the D’Orsay Museum, the collection brings the work of 89 artists all along six different lines: The Age of Myths, The Age of Power, Sea and Labour, Storms and Shipwrecks; The Ephemeral, The Quest for Infinity. This exhibition features artists such as Manet, Constable, Monet, Van Goyen, De Chirico, Friedrich, Hopper, Fattori, Sorolla, Klee, Turner, among others. We can admire their works until January 2013 at the Gulbenkian Museum. Besides, we will be able to see the works of national artists such as Pousão, Souza-Cardoso, Vaz, Vieira da Silva e Menez. Through their works, we could understand the special meaning of the see in the Portuguese imaginary.

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A ROOM FOR LONDON (Until December 30, 2012, Queen Elisabeth Hall, When the boat is full, there will be a raised flag to let us know the bedroom is not empty that night. The London, United Kingdom) one-bedroom installation includes a registration book Who wants to improve the views to the River Thames to simulate a logbook. The guest can write his interestafter waking up on top of the Southbank Centre? ing and unusual experiences on board of this ship. Thanks to 2012 A Room for London edition, this is a David Khon and his team have previous experience. real chance. They have already created a temporary restaurant in A Room for London started as an art project. The idea the Royal Academy of Arts and a contemporary art was to create a temporary installation on the top of the gallery at West End. roof of a mythical building in London, a place where On the other hand, Fiona Banner has recently prepeople could stay one night. sented her installation “Harrier and Jaguar”, based on This time, the installation will stay on top of the Queen two well-known war planes, at the Tate Britain. Elisabeth Hall, one of the biggest and more important London’s single-run arts centre. The aim of this pro- A Room for London, will welcome the lucky members ject is that the public enjoys the views from such a sin- of the public and all those artists, writers and comgular place in the city, where none has been at before. mentators that want to spend a unforgettable weekend in this boat. The contest played to more than 500 different projects, but finally, the architects David Kohn and Fiona Ban- These special guests will be able to use experience as ner were the selected ones thank you to their design: inspiring source for new art works, web publishing, writings, etc. This is a space for creation. “Boat”. For this project, David designed and equipped the building with all the typical elements from a ship usually at sea and, to get even closer to the feeling of being on board and to think that, at any time, the boat would be used to plough the sea, he added a lower and upper deck. But, instead of a huge ocean and the coast of a remote island, we will be able to admire River Thames, the Big Ben and St. Paul’s cathedral.

A Room for London - as a part of London Festival 2012 - was inspired by Living Architecture and Artangel, in association with the Southbank Centre. The entry and reserves are available for all publics, but not to suit every pocket. For more information, visit www.Livinglondon.uk.com. Good luck, sailor!

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