Gucci Cosmos in Shanghai

For the first time pieces from the Gucci Archive travel out of their home in Florence, bringing the magic and creativity of the House to life. 

 

Gucci Cosmos begins its world tour, landing in Shanghai at the West Bund Art Center. At the heart of the exhibition is the Gucci Archive, a multi-layered memory bank situated in the historic Palazzo Settimanni in Florence, just a short walk from where founder Guccio Gucci opened his first boutique on Via della Vigna Nuova. Here, creative directors and artisans communicate with each other across decades through their designs to continue the dialogue that began in 1921.

Conceived and designed by the contemporary artist Es Devlin, the exhibition stages this cross-generational dialogue through immersive worlds that trace the constellation of ideas, inventions, artefacts, geographies, anecdotes, clothes, accessories, and objects that articulate Gucci’s narrative. Fashion theorist, critic, and curator Maria Luisa Frisa has drawn together treasures from the Gucci Archive to portray how the different visionaries who have presided over the House’s creative endeavors have each mirrored and defined their times. These worlds—Portals, Zoetrope, Eden, Two, Archivio, Cabinet of Wonders, Carousel, Duomo—together with the ephemera that they contain become an expression of Gucci’s values, celebrating the enduring creativity that has driven the House throughout its first century, and now leads it into its second. 

Gucci Cosmos is open in Shanghai from 28 April - 25 June 2023 at the West Bund Art Center.