\n<\/p>\n
As cities go, Venice is the very definition of immersive. No wonder, then, that immersion was a recurring theme during the opening week of the city\u2019s 61st Biennale\u2014from Marina Abramovic\u2019s 12 Years of Ulay<\/em> at the Cukcarna Gallery to Jordan Roth\u2019s stunning performance channelling 16th century artist, musician, and society beauty Irene di Spilimbergo in the Palazzo dei Fiori.<\/p>\n We can now add the experiential work dreamt up by the renowned Los Angeles creative studio Playlab Inc. and its The Forest For The Trees<\/em> installation, which was commissioned by Golden Goose. On Friday evening, the Italian brand hosted a dinner to celebrate\u2014and true to form, it was magical, fun, and more than a little bit madcap.<\/p>\n For the uninitiated, Playlab Inc. has had a hand in shaping visual language across fashion, pop culture, and entertainment for decades. Think: Virgil Abloh\u2019s Louis Vuitton outings, videos for Post Malone, and their current pursuit of reimagining the Westminster Dog Show.<\/p>\n Located at Haus, Golden Goose\u2019s cultural hub in the industrial port area of Maghera, The Forest For The Trees<\/em> is an interactive exploration through both the natural world and the imagination. The viewer moves through spaces, connecting with an almost fairytale version of flora and fauna, before painting their own tree and planting it into a toy-like forest which is then projected on the walls around them.<\/p>\n Silvio Campara, CEO at Golden Goose, revealed that there was no definitive direction given to Playlab Inc., allowing the creatives to run wild. \u201cThe priority is to always deliver a message of freedom and creativity to everyone, and they understood that perfectly,\u201d Campara said during a pre-dinner aperitivo hour. \u201cAnd we thought it would be interesting to explore that with them because we had a mutual friend, Virgil Abloh; I am not sure many people know, but Virgil did one of our first collaborations back in 2013.\u201d<\/p>\n The carte blanch<\/em> was a breath of fresh air for Playlab Inc.\u2019s Archie Lee Coates IV, Jeff Franklin, and Ana Cecilia Thompson Motta, too. \u201cWe wanted an almost Hollywood-like immersive backdrop,\u201d said Coates, in town from Los Angeles for the celebration. \u201cA set that transported you to a storybook that doesn\u2019t exist. We\u2019re living in a world that\u2019s so cynical now, that you could almost see that [desire] as corny\u2014but for Jeff, Ana, and I, we\u2019re optimistic people, and we wanted to choose optimism.\u201d<\/p>\n For those attending the proverbial ribbon cutting, a walk through the fictional forest ended up in a dining space enclosed by painted wooden trees and woodland animals. Long dining tables were covered in foliage and flora\u2014some of which was edible, like baskets of asparagus and crispy wild leaves. Wild herbs, smoked potatoes, and rosemary was served first, followed by a mushroom and tobacco risotto with almond milk and calamint.<\/p>\n The crowd included artists Lola Schnabel, Youssef Nabil, and Charlote Rose, as well as up-and-comer Sean Koons; actor Arjun Kapoor; architect Tessa Sakhi; Olympic skateboarders Keegan Palmer and Cory Juneau; filmmaker Sinbad Guggenheim; and pianist Alberto Bof.<\/p>\n Despite the eclectic guestlist, conversation, unsurprisingly, kept drifting back to art; how Schnabel has relocated to Sicily after many years in New York to pursue her work, while Nabil is readying himself for the opening of a major solo show at Paris\u2019s Musee d\u2019Orsay. And it all continued in that direction until the water taxis arrived, ready for the moonlit journey back home.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n