The Italian fashion brand Max Mara, in collaboration with the founding family’s contemporary art museum Collezione Maramotti, unveiled a site-specific artwork created by French artist Eva Jospin and called “Microclima.”
Jospin created a metal glasshouse on the top floor of the store that is both intimate then related with the outdoors. The entrance of the boutique is on the central shopping street Corso Vittorio Emanuele II, but the unit also overlooks on Liberty Square, an important meeting point in the city.
Microclima Max Mara flagship store photo © Masiar Pasquali
The glasshouse is inspired by late 19th-century gardens, a period in which the Liberty style rose to fame — a reference to the square below. Eva Jospin created a majestic and monochrome three-dimensional cardboard landscape en relief in the pavilion. Vegetal elements stand on a mineral substrate and tropical trees, stalagmites and fossils complete the installation.
“This is like a mental collage of a vision of nature,” said Jospin. “I like to work with this sense of illusion. We are growing a kind of nature that is entirely imaginary. And it’s a way to reclaim nature. Metallic yarns, ropes, acorn shells and small stones are also part of the work, leading to musings about the relationship of man with nature”, say Jospin.
Elsa won the Max Mara‘s contest in 2019, where were asked to candidates to relate the space to the flagship and to put it in relation with the Liberty square. “Microclima offers people in the store and in the square the opportunity to meet with art,” said Jospin.
Colors and impressions of the installation change dramatically depending on the light. “You can see the buildings and the square through the work, which alters this view. And from the square, you can see ‘Microclima’.”
A view of Microclima from the Liberty Square in Milan Photo © Masiar Pasquali