A Museum for 24 Hours

Prada has realized with artist Francesco Vezzoli a new project of visual and linguistic experimentation in the "24 h Museum", a Baroque festival in which the entire exhibition lasts only 24 hours.The "24h Museum"  in Paris is was opened on 24 January for 24 hours only, in the historic Palais d'Iéna, the building designed by Auguste Perret between 1936 and 1946, today home of CESE (Conseil Economique, Social et Environnemental), the French 'third Chamber'.

The installation for the "24 h Museum" is divided in three sections, each inspired by a particular type of museum space: historic, contemporary and forgotten. The three sections are instrument to the sequence of events that take place during 24 hours in different areas of the ground floor of the Palais d'Iéna. The central space is a large metal cage made from grills and neon lights that encloses the work by Francesco Vezzoli.

In the three sections – historic, contemporary and forgotten – Vezzoli has created a "non-existent museum" where he shows his personal tribute to the eternal allure of femininity through interpretations of classical sculptures that make reference to contemporary divas.  At the top of the stairway, epicentre of the building, Vezzoli has placed a majestic sculpture of a female, reinterpreted with the features of a mysterious goddess. Vezzoli's vision is of a museum that exists for just 24 hours and which is also a celebration of a collective rite that mixes visitors, red-carpet, Oedipus' complex and night visions.

With the new "24 h Museum", Francesco Vezzoli has continued his exploration of reciprocal influences and boundary-breaking in the visual arts, cinema and theatre that he has already investigated in the past.
The project was carried out in collaboration with AMO, world-famous office, led by Rem 
 Koolhaas. (Photos©by OMA )