From October until January 2012, FoMu, the photo museum in Antwerp organized an exhibition at its Gallery on Visionaire, in collaboration with MoMu since both museums have a substantial collection of Visionaire magazines. The exhibition is closed since a few weeks now, meaning that the Visionaire copies can be consulted again in the MoMu library.
Visionaire issue 58 – Magic (c) VisionaireWorld
Visionaire is the ground-breaking New York publication about fashion and art, founded in 1999 by Stephen Gan, Cecilia Dean and James Kaliardos. The magazine appears three times a year in a limited numbered edition. Every copy is a collectors item, since all the editions contain exclusive collaborations and formats. This makes the magazine cherished by collectors, libraries and museums all over the world.
Visionaire Issue 56 – Solar (c) VisionaireWorld
The MoMu library is the proud owner of 24 copies of Visionaire, such as edition 48: ‘Magic’, which features a 18-karat gold Alhambra charm by Van Cleef & Arpels on a silk ribbon embedded in the case. The inside has 25 lenticular cards with moving images. Or what abot edition 56 ‘Solar’? The all-white cover may look interesting just as it is, but when exposed to direct sunlight, the cover turns into a colourful spectacle, realized thanks to Photochromic Plastisol Inks. Another edition we are proud to have in our collection is issue 58. ‘Spirit’, published in honour of Alexander Mc Queen. The pages of this issue are embedded with wildflower seeds. When planted, watered, and given sun, the pages blossom. The case is wrapped in a Mc Queen metalized brocade from his Spring/Summer 2010 show.
Words by Dorien Swerts, intern at MoMu
