During Art Basel in Basel, I found out more about Swiss luxury skincare brand, La Prairie, and its artistic collaborations. For Art Basel, Basel, La Prairie chose an artistic collaboration with Manon Wertenbroek, and for Art Basel, Hong Kong, the group worked with Julian Charrière. Both collaborations captured my attention, and thus, I would like to introduce them to you. 

LA PRAIRIE x MANON WERTENBROEK

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I firstly heard about Manon Wertenbroek a couple of years ago when she created some surreal moving sculptures. Her beautiful and strong visual style captured my attention instantly back then. Manon has previously worked with the brand; this year, however, her artworks take into account the cobalt blue of the Skin Caviar Creme as the center of each of her creations, which are printed on metallic paper. Particularly interesting: the experimental nature of Manon’s works as well as the homage to Niki de Saint Phalle’s works (I recently reported about Niki de Saint Phalle and her monumental sculpture hanging at Zurich’s main train station on my Instagram).

LA PRAIRIE x JULIAN CHARRIÈRE

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The collaboration of the Gasag Art Prize winner 2018 with La Prairie is called Light upon an Imaginary Space. The visuals (pictures and video) were shot during expeditions to the frozen landscapes of the world, including the Giètro Glacier in the Swiss Alps. An important factor is Light. As mentioned by Charrière, the presence and absence of it—plays an integral role in this project. Here comes also the link to La Prairie, whose White Caviar Creme Extraordinaire is infused with the powerful lighting illuminating ingredient, lumidose. Further interesting characteristics of this collaboration: the Swissness and important role innovation plays – in the science behind the Creme and artwork (Charrière uses two drones hovering over the frozen landscape, one equipped with a camera and the other with a spotlight, to lighten up the endless darkness of the Arctic. I consider the darkness of the Arctic combined with the snowy/icy, white landscapes quite capturing, dramatic, even meditative, to the point where I would like to take part in Julian’s expeditions.

“I do not aim to evoke any kind of distinct emotional reaction. Rather, I want my work to function as a catalyst to a complex range of overlapping emotions. With this project, I aimed to create a space for contemplation and reflection and allow the viewer to sink into a kind of meditative state. My work often features an ambivalent state between beauty and death. The viewer might feel alienated from their human perspective by being confronted with an entirely foreign view of The Earth.”  – Julian Charrière

I’m super excited to what else the future holds for La Prairie’s art engagements and collaboration with Art Basel.

Thanks for reading ❤