MOCA Louis Vuitton Boutique Confirmed

The LA Times has gotten a confirmation out of MOCA that they’re planning to have a fully functioning Louis Vuitton boutique smack dab in the middle of the Geffen Contemporary, as part of the upcoming Louis Vuitton show (rendering shown above).  Modern Art Notes’ Tyler Green quickly noted that this is very different from what he was told last week by MOCA spokesperson Lyn Winter, who seems to have misstepped in her attempt to control the story – likely because the museum is walking a thin line on this one and really wants to get across that this is a curatorial move and not a business one.

I’m so glad to learn that they’ve gone all the way on this one, taking it beyond a marketing move, and into the realm of the curatorial.  The museum is taking no profit from the sales of the nearly $1000 handbags that will be on sale, nor any rental fee from the vendor and it’s part of a 20 room display MOCA plans for the exhibition.  There is also a one room display of objects from Murakami’s company Kaikai Kiki, although it’s not articulated if the objects in display will all be Murakami products or if there will be products by other artists from his group.

Looking at the rendering of the store, above, I’m a little disappointed, though.  I would have loved to see them construct a completely free standing structure.  What the rendering looks like is almost a corner-bound installation.  I’d like to see a more transitional and separated space, one that requires visitors to go in.  I’m already wondering if there’s going to be a pile-up of viewers in the Louis Vuitton area, and what that might mean about the public’s interest in art in general.  Maybe the viewers and the ring of registers will lend it a sense of performance and spectacle.

From the LA Times article:

“When Paul Schimmel invited Louis Vuitton to participate in this way, he really felt that the act of buying, the way one approaches the objects when they are consumable within the museum environment, spoke to the unusual nature of his work.”

“We really didn’t need a faux boutique,” Schimmel said. “I felt that the experience could only be achieved by having an operational one, rather than a fixed, embalmed replication. The fact that there is a new product that is only available here is very dynamic and represents that kind of relationship between the viewer and the consumer.

The only image of the show’s exclusive products is the one above, and those don’t look like $1000 purses to me, they look more like $100 wallets.  So I’d be willing to bet that there will be a range of products on sale, beyond the purses.  So get your credit cards ready, art lovers.  Of course the regular gift shop will be doing killer business, selling shirts and doo-dads, so it’s not like MOCA isn’t going to make a ton of gift shop money on this show, regardless of the lack of Louis Vuitton income.

An Aside – The title of the LA Times Article is “MOCA show asks: Is it business or art?”  Of course it’s business – art is a business.  Almost every painting you see in LACMA or the Louvre was once sold by the artist or their representative so that the artist could make a living.  That is business! The biggest problem I have with working with younger artists is that so many of them don’t realize that they’re entering a professional field or a business, and they make really poor decisions as to how to plan their individual business and then whine about how hard their life is.  Being an artist is being a small businessperson, and you may fail, lose your shirt or find out that you’re in the wrong business, just like any other.  Or you may go on to be Thomas Kinkade.

Technorati Tags: MOCA, art, Murakami, Takashi Murakami, Louis Vuitton, merchandizing, botique