Artist Jeppe Hein's year-long installation for champagne house Ruinart will include coloured wooden panels with empty circles (this page), which visitors will be invited to fill with their emotional state using chalk, and mirrored speech bubbles sporting maxims chosen by Hein (pictured opposite with one in his Berlin studio)
The art fair can be an overwhelming place. The pace is often too frenetic, the architecture too clinical, the camera flashes too frequent, and the crowd too mercenary to allow for proper contemplation of the works on view. ‘Everything is about buying, selling and consuming rapidly, says Jeppe Hein. The Berlin-based Danish artist has reasons to be sceptical about the format: following a burnout in 2009, when he was 35, he slowed down his life and shifted his practice to champion the virtues of mindfulness. Diverse though Hein's output may be spanning outdoor mirror labyrinths, shiny, colourful balloons that hang from ceilings, museum benches in surreptitious motion, and the global art action 'Breathe with Me' (which invites participants to record their breaths as ultramarine downward brushstrokes on a common canvas) - it all emphasises the importance of embracing the moment.
This makes Hein's carte blanche commission from champagne house Ruinart to create installations for a year's worth of art fairs and industry events both surprising and fitting. Surprising, because it's hard to foster mindfulness amid an embarrassment of riches, but fitting, as few artists are better qualified to take on such a challenge. Titled 'Right Here, Right Now', this is not so much a solo show as a collaborative art project, inviting participants to engage with their senses and tap into their latent creativity.
coloured wooden panels and a mirrored speech bubble, featuring one of seven different maxims from the installation, in Hein's studio
This story is from the April 2022 edition of Wallpaper.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the April 2022 edition of Wallpaper.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
COOL RUNNINGS
Palace founder Lev Tanju is bringing his own unexpected brand of weirdness and love of eclectic mash-ups to Fila's new contemporary line
LIVING COLOUR
Mexico's San Miguel de Allende is home to a bold young crowd of talent that's thriving off the city's brightly-hued heritage
STARS ASCENDING
In a rapidly changing world, the route designers take to discover their calling is increasingly circuitous. We profile ten creatives forging their own paths to success
SUITE DREAMS
Cathay Pacific’s new aircraft interiors turn the inflight experience into an art form, upgrading the business-class cabin for the next generation of flyers
Brutal harmony
The Escheresque Italian villa designed by Fausto Bontempi for sculptor Claudio Caffetto
LOCAL HERO
London studio Holloway Li’s recent makeover of Polish hotel Puro Poznan is right up our street
STAR TURNS
An exhibition at Louvre Abu Dhabi unveils the stellar shortlist for this year's Richard Mille Art Prize
SCREEN GEM
A multifaceted residence in Beverly Hills puts the beauty of potentiality in the frame
SOFT SPOT
We've taken a shine to Bottega Veneta's collaboration with Flos on a special edition of a Gino Sarfatti lamp
Between the lines
Frequently drawing comparisons with Francis Bacon, painter George Rouy is gaining peer points for his use of classic techniques to distort the human form
