2023/02 Marni – The Hermitcrab’s Wundershell
Details:
Marni
The Hermitcrab’s Wundershell by Flaminia Veronesi
Spring-Summer 2023
Via Monte Napoleone 26, Milan
Review:
by Peter Hamer
march 3, 2023
Be warned: this one is marvelous! The Hermitcrab’s Wundershell is an installation, although I think it’s more of a journey, by artist Flaminia Veronesi inside Marni’s flagship store in Milan. The journey starts at the window displays with a sculpture and text inviting you to discover the exhibition and continues throughout the entire store through other works of art such as paintings, and objects to conclude at the top floor with, well, the wundershell! Or the hermit crab’s house. At the beginning of the journey, a map with a treasure hunt is provided by the team. The map also includes the press release written by Mariuccia Casadio (Vogue Italia’s art consultant) which is fundamental to understanding the depth of this concept.
Floor by floor Veronesi introduces us to fantastic sea creatures that are both enchanting and evil (?), at the same time. At the end of the day, a hermit crab borrows a shell, and fun fact: when they find a new shell to borrow, a group of hermit crabs will line up, from biggest to smallest to see which one fits best in the new shell. The hand-me-down shell becomes home to the next smallest crab, and so on. Amazing and fascinating! If only we would think the same way. Now, back to the display…
Upon arriving on the top floor, one finally discovers the wundershell that one can actually enter to discover the inside of the house. In it, a collection of smaller shells and mythological creatures cover the entire walls, a lovely metaphor as to how anyone who inhabits a space surrounds themselves with things they like or inspire. So, in that sense, aren’t we all a bit of a hermit crab? At least according to Veronesi.
Marni’s collaboration with Flaminia Veronesi commences with the Resort and Main SS23 collection where sea creatures come to life in the form of prints and objects for both men and women. Walking throughout the store one could wonder if the installation could take away attention from the products for sale, but I don’t think so. At least not in this case. I’ve written about artists collaborating with brands before, but in this case, Marni knows where the limit lies between being a brand and collaborating with an artist: they need to compliment each other. If there’s no spark, well, it might not be so interesting.
So, to quote Sebastian from The Little Mermaid: “Listen to me. The human world is a mess.” And while he might be right, it’s set-ups like this that add that joie de vivre to retail that creates dialogue! This a beautiful example of my call to “stop making displays, start creating connections”.
