Alexander McQueen
Location: Paris
The Stage: Legendary taxidermy gallery Deyrolle may have burned to the ground, but the peculiar art was alive and well at Alexander McQueen, where the stage was crowded with all manner of wild beasts (lions and tigers and bears) set against a backdrop of a revolving Earth.
Inspiration: Program notes indicated that McQueen’s mind was on Charles Darwin and the damaging effects of industrialization on the natural world.
Rodarte
Location: Gagosian Gallery, NYC
The Stage: A broken-down landscape punctuated with columns of blinding light, designed to explore the link between site-specific art and the search for life in space.
Set Designers: Rodarte and Alexandre de Betak of Bureau Betak.
Lighting Designer: Philippe Cerceau.
Inspiration: Artists like Robert Smithson, Olafur Eliasson, and Dan Flavin; films such as Donnie Darko, THX 1138, and The Man Who Fell to Earth.
Materials Used: Hammers and chainsaws.
How Long It Took to Build: One day to make the hole in the wall and a day and a half for lighting and the rest.
… And to Break Down: Half a day to break down the room and lighting and two days to rebuild the wall.
Stella McCartney
Location: Paris
The Stage: A colorful, whimsical floor-to-ceiling mural, measuring seven meters high by fourteen meters wide, that looked like a page torn from a children’s book.
Set Designers: Avant-garde British artists Dinos and Jake Chapman.
Lighting Designer: Manolo.
Inspiration: Children’s coloring books; cutting out their characters and mixing stories together.
Materials Used: Felt.
How Long It Took to Build: One week to build, and one night to mount.
Where It Is Now: The felt wall will be auctioned off for charity.