Directing Spaces

Canadian opera director Robert Carsen seamlessly weds Eastern and Western design influences at the Louis Vuitton ‘ Volez, Voguez, Voyagez’ exhibition in Seoul, South Korea

was immediately struck by the concept of the obansek,” Robert Carsen says during a brisk chat amid the quiet excitement during the opening of the Louis Vuitton “Volez, Voguez, Voyagez” exhibition at the Dongdaemun Design Plaza in Seoul, South Korea.

Obansek are the five colours—green, red, yellow, white, and black—entwined with the five directions—north, south, east, west, and centre. Korean art, even culinary art, is suffused with the concept of obansek. “The obansek is a beautiful, all-encompassing colour concept, so I decided that I wanted to start with that,” he adds.

One space of the 15 that stood out at the exhibition was the Inspirational Korea room, where Louis Vuitton paid respect to the host country with which the brand has a shared past. In 1900, South Korea and Louis Vuitton ran pavilions at the Exposition Universelle. Gaston-louis Vuitton had reportedly collected Korean hahms, or finely worked chests used for wedding gift boxes.

Robert drew inspiration for the room from traditional Korean houses, called hanok. He lined the walls with Korean paper, or hanji, with colours corresponding to the obansek.

“The exhibition in Korea is significantly larger than it was in Tokyo or Paris. We never had so many things or so much space, which I really enjoyed,” he says. He adds that he “placed every single object at the exhibition myself ”, noting that even a misplaced fire extinguisher would disrupt the equilibrium of a room.

The exhibition was rich in remarkable details. Robert had arranged for walls to be lined in suede panels imprinted with the Louis Vuitton monogram, work which the brand has rarely done.

“There is a lot to take in,” says Robert. “In theatre, you are always fixed in one position from where you are looking whereas at exhibitions, you are moving, so it is important for me that every space accommodates the different routes people take.”

The arrangement of space, colours, and flow—highlighted by the absence of glass cabinets enclosing certain displays—was to achieve one purpose. “I want you to not only see it, but feel it,” he says.

The exhibition was rich in remarkable details. Robert had arranged for walls to be lined in suede panels imprinted with the Louis Vuitton monogram