Gucci Unveils "The Artist Is Present" Exhibition in Shanghai

Borrowing its name from Marina Abramović’s iconic performance piece at the MoMA in 2010, Gucci presented a new exhibition called "The Artist is Present" at Yuz Museum on 10 October.

Now open to the public until 16 December 2018, the new exhibition explores a few ideas: the general perception towards counterfeit and copying, how originality can be achieved through repetition, and how originals themselves can be preserved through copies.

The exhibition is the result of a collaboration between Gucci's Creative Director Alessandro Michele and Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan, who is known for his paradoxical works. The works of over 30 artists — including Chinese artists and talents from around the globe — have been curated by Cattelan especially for the exhibition to build a space where originality, intention, expression, and authorship are dismantled.

To honour the exhibition, Alessandro Michele, Maurizio Cattelan and Gucci's President and CEO Marco Bizzarri had hosted an exclusive cocktail party at Yuz Museum, which included performances by musicians Molly Lewis, Drew Erickson and indie-rock band Da Bang.

Musical talents aside, Gucci's A-list friends were also there to celebrate: supermodel Liu Wen, Gucci muse Ni Ni and singer Chris Lee all rubbed shoulders with the likes of artist Nina Beier, Pentti Monkkonen, stylist Tina Leung and influencer-entrepreneur Yoyo Cao. Check out the stellar guest list of Gucci's star-studded party in Shanghai in the gallery below: