02-11-2018

Hologram H10 by Pierre Le Riche at the Minsheng Museum, Beijing

Beijing, China,

Museums, Exhibitions, Gallery,

Fabric,

Exhibition,

South African artist Pierre Le Riche developed the installation for Cartier's Coloratura High-Jewelry in the largest public space for contemporary art in China, the Minsheng Contemporary Art Museum in Beijing, housed in a former factory converted by architecture firm Pei-Zhu.



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Hologram H10 by Pierre Le Riche at the Minsheng Museum, Beijing South African artist Pierre Le Riche developed the installation for Cartier's Coloratura High-Jewelry in the largest public space for contemporary art in China, the Minsheng Contemporary Art Museum in Beijing, housed in a former factory converted by architecture firm Pei-Zhu.


It's always a major challenge to create exhibition fit-outs, particularly when we're talking about showcasing small items like jewellery. Indeed, the Hologram H10 fit-out project by South African artist Pierre Le Riche is the response to a request from the Cartier fashion house that needed a suitable backdrop to showcase its new collection called Coloratura High-Jewelry exhibiting at the Minsheng Contemporary Art Museum in Beijing. 
The museum is housed in what used to be the Panasonic factory, dating back to the 1980s and located in the 798 district of the Chinese capital. This area is experiencing a renaissance, moving away from being an industrial zone and into an art district populated by lots of galleries, studios and spaces for events. The architecture firm Pei Zhu was responsible for the building's conversion. This architecture has been turned into a large container celebrating contemporary art. It plays with the contrast between a series of white cubes and the standout materials of the existing building, incorporating exposed surfaces and textures.
This singular architectural backdrop needed a response that would take into account both the exhibition space itself and the items being displayed there. The artist Pierre Le Riche, who is also curator of the Glen Carlou Art Gallery near Cape Town, therefore, proposed the installation called Hologram H10. Like other installations he has crafted, including the acclaimed Rainbow Room (link), this one was constructed entirely out of the acrylic thread normally used for crochet. Almost 17 km of thread was stretched over two 15-metre and two 8-metre walls, all 4 metres high to turn the featureless white box provided for the installation into a warm and vibrant environment.
A play of colours using very fine threads to create a delicate pattern on the white walls, which also gain visual depth thanks to the three-dimensional nature of Pierre Le Riche's installation. The perfect backdrop to dressing, so to speak, the room hosting the exhibition called Coloratura High-Jewelry by Cartier, enhanced by the bold accents of the dark blue seats and the deep green colours of the indoor plants. 
Hologram H10 by Pierre Le Riche for Cartier at the Minsheng Contemporary Art Museum in Beijing is a temporary installation, a common feature of many of the South African artist's most significant works. So it left no lasting effects on the actual architectural structure, itself already layered, and it was easy to remove physically. At the same time, it has left its mark in the eternal present of the web, with its rainbow colours temporarily brightening up the aseptic whiteness of the architectural project by Pei Zhu.

Christiane Bürklein

Project: Pierre Le Riche - http://www.pierreleriche.co.za/
Location: Minsheng Contemporary Art Museum, Beijing
Year: September 2018
Images: © Pierre Le Riche for Cartier

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