Luxury skincare house La Prairie will bring its specially-commissioned Art of Caviar exhibition to travel retail in January 2018 at Zürich Airport.
Five art pieces – produced to mark the 30th anniversary of the iconic Skin Caviar line this year – will be displayed from 12 January to 18 February in collaboration with duty free retailer Dufry and Zürich Airport.
“It is only fitting that this first-of-its-kind exhibition should begin and culminate in Switzerland, the land where La Prairie’s story began and continues to evolve today,” said La Prairie Group Chief Marketing Officer Greg Prodromides. “We feel this unique collaboration perfectly embodies La Prairie’s intrinsic link with the world of art.”
Prodromides added: “In using precious caviar in its formulations, La Prairie continues to break the codes of luxury skincare, just as these talented artists go beyond the limits of the imagination.”
The Zürich edition of Art of Caviar will be the first time the exhibition is held in a travel retail environment, and completes a cycle that started at the 2017 Art Basel show when one of the five artworks – by French artist Paul Coudamy – was displayed in La Prairie’s exclusive space in the VIP Lounge at the fair. La Prairie, owned by Germany’s Beiersdorf, partnered with the world-renowned contemporary art fair this year.
The Art of Caviar exhibition has subsequently made stops in four cities: Paris, New York, Hong Kong and finally Shanghai.
Five immersive artworks
Each of the five art experiences is designed as an immersive journey into the indulgent, rarefied world of caviar, according to La Prairie.
Living Cells by Paul Coudamy interprets the brand’s latest breakthrough, Skin Caviar Absolute Filler, through the concept of volume. The line is claimed to restore tone and density for improved skin fullness in a volume-enhancing formulation.
Solid Frequencies by Paul Coudamy comprises glass, electronic sensors, a state-of-the-art sound system, metal and resin in a massive black form pierced by a glass tube filled with small marbles. It is inspired by the beads of La Prairie’s original caviar indulgence, Skin Caviar.
Moving Pixel by Bonjour Lab is a digital work visualising the lifting effect of La Prairie’s Skin Caviar Liquid Lift. It is an aggregation of golden beads that form a silhouette frozen in time and space for a moment, resisting the immutable effect of gravity.
Photographs by Cinq Fruits celebrate La Prairie’s quest for indulgence and beauty with shots featuring some of the brand’s icons: Skin Caviar Luxe Cream and Luxe Cream Sheer.
An audiovisual installation by TremensS is the final piece. It is housed in a pitch-black room where a laser cuts through the space from corner to corner to hit a vast vertical monolith. At once ethereal and technological, it echoes La Prairie’s process of steam distillation to capture Caviar Water, used for the first time in the Skin Caviar Essence-in-Lotion line.
