alex chinneck twists NYC taxis and LA cars into storefront sculptures for dior

Dior’s New York and Beverly Hills storefront windows feature Alex Chinneck’s bent cityscapes made from recognizable urban objects. The installations fill glass-fronted facades with sculptures that appear softened under pressure, including a yellow taxi that curls upward, traffic lights that burst outward, and street furniture that bends and gathers. The works are arranged so they can be read from multiple street angles, turning the storefront into a miniature city set behind glass. The project marks the first anniversary of both Dior locations and connects to the House’s relationship with the United States that began in 1947. Street language is translated into couture gestures through twisting, looping, and tying forms.

"Dior's windows in New York and Beverly Hills have been taken over by Alex Chinneck's warped versions of city life, from yellow taxis and traffic lights to street lamps, clocks, and cars. At the House of Dior New York on 57th Street and the Beverly Hills flagship in Los Angeles, the British artist has filled the glass-fronted facades with urban objects that seem to have softened under pressure."

"The project celebrates the first anniversary of the two Dior locations and looks back to the House's long relationship with the United States, which began in 1947. Chinneck picks up on that history through the language of the street. His sculptures use things anyone walking past would recognize in a second, then twist them into something closer to couture: bent, gathered, looped, and tied."

"In Midtown, the House of Dior New York becomes a kind of miniature city set behind glass. The building sits on a prominent corner of 57th Street, its pale facade opening into tall transparent bays at sidewalk level. Chinneck uses those big vitrines almost like urban rooms, placing nine sculptures where they can be read from the crosswalk, the curb, or straight on from the avenue."

"A yellow taxi appears to peel upward inside one window, its body curling into the air as if the car has been folded like fabric. Elsewhere, a cluster of traffic lights bursts outward in a fan of yellow housings and red, green, and amber lenses. The familiar machinery of New York's streets is still there, but it has been loosened from its usual job and given a stranger, more sculptural life."

Read at designboom | architecture & design magazine