LONDON — Moleskine’s traveling exhibition, “Detour,” has finally arrived in London at the Saatchi Gallery, including a special installation and custom edition notebook designed by multidisciplinary artist Hannah Marshall.
The exhibition has previously toured Shanghai, Paris and New York, showcasing a selection of works from the Moleskine Foundation Collection, which is home to more than 1,500 artworks created on Moleskine notebooks by a variety creatives, from film director Spike Jonze and conceptual architect Toyo Ito to artist William Kentridge.
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“We have this dream that creativity can change the world, and we’ve tried to bring it to life there with our work, which is focused on supporting underserved communities,” Daniela Riccardi, chief executive officer of Moleskine, told WWD.
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In celebration of its London leg, Moleskine partnered with Marshall to create a new work which encapsulates the artist’s minimalist ethos.
“The Voice Box,” sits in a blacked-out room, where a reconstructed Moleskine notebook lays under a clear box, filled with a thick sheet of glass in place of paper. Over it, a microphone hangs, while the room is filled with the sounds of the artist speaking.
“A notebook is a sacred space — a container to empty ourselves, where our deepest thoughts can be unearthed. It should feel safe and protected,” the artist explained.
“Glass is an amorphous material somewhere between two states of matter. It contains a physical and emotional quality that symbolizes the human body: simultaneously strong yet fragile, transparent but impenetrable,” she added.
Such dualities are at the core of the lengthy résumé of Marshall, who, in addition to previously working as an art and creative director, received a New Gen award from the British Fashion Council in 2008 for her eponymous womenswear label.
“As a conceptual artist, I am fixated by the tensions that sits in-between two opposing forces. I continually explore the dichotomous relationship between permanence and impermanence, silence and sound — so this is the heartbeat of the installation at the Saatchi Gallery,” Marshall said.
In addition to Marshall’s notebook being sold at the gallery’s gift shop, the notebook is also available to be purchased at Harrods, where a smaller version of the exhibition is on display, including pieces by Joel Chu, Rodrigo Mabunda and Julian Semiao.