IL SARCOFAGO DI SPITZMAUS E ALTRI TESORI by Wes Anderson, Juman Malouf

アメリカ人映画監督、ウェス・アンダーソン(Wes Anderson)とレバノン出身アーティストでデザイナーのジュマン・マルーフ(Juman Malouf)が「Fondazione Prada(プラダ財団)」で共同でキュレーションを担当した展覧会『Il sarcofago di Spitzmaus e altri tesori / Spitzmaus Mummy in a Coffin and Other Treasures(訳:棺に入ったトガリネズミのミイラと宝物たち)』に伴い刊行されたボックスセット。本展は、2018年11月から2019年4月にオーストリアのウィーン美術史美術館、2019年9月から2020年1月にミラノのプラダ財団に巡回し開催された。最初の展示は、2人が何度も訪れているというウィーン美術史美術館とウィーン自然史美術館に収蔵される400万を超えるコレクションから選んだ538点の作品で構成。プラダ財団での展示では、展示面積と展示点数を増やしたセカンドバージョンとして展開された。また、ウィーン美術史美術館2012年にアメリカ人アーティストのエド・ルシェー(Ed Ruscha)、2016年にはイギリス人アーティストのエドモンド・ドゥ・ヴァール(Edmund de Waal)が同様のキュレーション展を開催している。

展覧会の図録として作られた本書は、マルセル・デュシャン(Marcel Duchamp)の『Boîte en-valise』からインスピレーションを得て制作。展覧会をミニチュアサイズで表現している。箱の中には、ドローイングやインタビューなどさまざまな資料を掲載した展覧会のカタログ、展覧会のデザインを解説した蛇腹状の本、しおり、追加分を含んだ全594点の展示作品をレイアウトしたポスター、オーディオガイドを文字起こししたフォルダー、ポストカードセット、展覧会の空間を記録した35mmのスライド、『La mummia di Spitzmaus』のデザートレシピが載ったレタープレスカードの8点が納められており、ポータブル・ミュージアムとパーソナル・コレクションのアイデアが練られた仕上がりとなっている。ニューヨークを拠点とするデザイン・コンサルタントチーム「2x4」がデザインを手がけている。

A project by Juman Malouf e Wes Anderson. Associate Editors: Chiara Costa and Mario Mainetti. Box in limited edition, numbered from 1 to 999 including: Exhibition’s catalogue, bookmark, poster, audioguide transcription, postcards, display book, slides, “La mummia di Spitzmaus” dessert recipe.

Exhibition official text (Fondazione Prada, Milan)
“Il sarcofago di Spitzmaus e altri tesori” (Spitzmaus Mummy in a Coffin and Other Treasures) is an exhibition project conceived by Wes Anderson and Juman Malouf. Organized in collaboration with the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, the exhibition features 538 artworks and objects selected by film director Wes Anderson (b. Houston, 1969) and illustrator, designer and writer Juman Malouf (b. Beirut, 1975) from 12 collections of the Kunsthistorisches Museum and from 11 departments of the Naturhistorisches Museum in Vienna. The title of the exhibition pays homage to one of the exhibits, coffin of a Spitzmaus, an Egyptian wooden box from the 4th century BC.

“Il sarcofago di Spitzmaus e altri tesori” explores the reasons behind the decision to create a collection and the ways in which it is housed, presented and experienced. Looking back to the past and drawing inspiration on the model of the Wunderkammer, the exhibition challenges traditional museum canons, proposing new relations between the institutions and their collections, and between their professional figures and their public. The choice of exhibited works, based on a non-academic, interdisciplinary approach, not only illustrates Anderson and Malouf’s deep knowledge of the two museums, but also reveals unexpected parallels and resonances between the works included in the project and the creative universes of the two artists.

The exhibition narrative is formed by groups of works: from green objects to portraits of children, from miniatures to timepieces, from boxes to wooden objects, from portraits of noblemen and common people to natural subjects like the garden as well as meteorites and animals presented as scientific exhibits or artistic depictions.

“Spitzmaus Mummy in a Coffin and Other Treasures” was presented at the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna from November 2018 to April 2019. The Milan exhibition is a second version with a larger display area and a greater number of exhibits. The original layout of rooms and vitrines, conceived by the two artist-curators with Itai Margula (Margula Architects) as a treasure chest, has been transported to the exhibition space of Fondazione Prada as a ready-made. The exhibition extends across the ground floor of the Podium to create a setting inspired by the Italian garden, with the presence of elements evoking hedges and allegorical pavilions typical of Renaissance garden.

The project is completed by an artist’s book published by Fondazione Prada. The publication takes the form of a box including drawings, reproductions and various materials, and elaborates the idea of the portable museum and the personal collection, referring to Marcel Duchamp’s Boîte en-valise as its inspiration.

by Juman Malouf , Wes Anderson

REGULAR PRICE ¥55,000  (tax incl.)

8 items in a box
(hardcover book, accordion book, bookmark, poster, audioguide transcription file folder, postcards set, 35mm slides, “La mummia di Spitzmaus” dessert recipe)
210 x 280 mm
color, black and white
limited edition of 999 copies
2019

published by FONDAZIONE PRADA