I Am. We Are. Liberty

 
★質感布面外盒，印有Liberty經典花紋，造型設計呼應真實展場佈置
★收錄多本特色出版品及明信片、海報、貼紙等紀念小物
 
　　Liberty的故事始於1875年5月15日，創辦人Arthur Lasenby Liberty在倫敦設立了第一家店。為了慶祝這間老牌百貨公司的150週年，Liberty與全球眾多文化機構、博物館、藝術家攜手展開橫跨一整年的文化活動，其中包含由知名義大利藝術史學者Ester Coen操刀的特展「I Am. We Are. Liberty.」。該展覽在攝政街主建築的展期結束後，更移往2025年大阪世博會巡迴展出。
 
　　「I Am. We Are. Liberty.」邀請人們走入鮮少公開的 Liberty 檔案館與設計工作室，透過廣受喜愛的圖樣和織物，呈現歷史與文化觀點嶄新的一面，講述了Liberty的故事：它的存在不僅僅是一間企業、商店、設計公司，更接近一種文化風格。
 
　　「I Am. We Are. Liberty.」展覽及專書皆由Ester Coen策劃、編輯，精采呈現Liberty豐富的文化面向。專書的設計靈感來自馬塞爾・杜象（Marcel Duchamp）的 La Boîte-en-valise、安迪・沃荷（Andy Warhol）的 Index 及 Photoworks 的 Festival in a Box，以「盒中展覽」的形式，在印有Liberty經典花紋的布面書盒內，將串起品牌歷史的各色出版品與紀念小物收錄其中，讓全球粉絲無須親臨展場，也能體驗這場盛大的慶典。內容包含：
 
　　-展覽與合作計畫小冊
　　-創辦人Arthur Lasenby Liberty與夫人在1889年旅日途中所拍攝的盒裝照片集
　　-明信片
　　-刺青貼紙
　　-由Pentagram設計的字體貼紙
　　-vPPR 建築團隊設計的3D展覽模型紙雕
　　-海報
 
　　(文/博客來編譯)

Cloth-covered box containing catalogues, postcards and posters celebrating and exploring the 150th anniversary of London's iconic store.

Liberty is one of London’s most iconic department stores, and this year celebrates its 150th anniversary. The Liberty story began when founder Arthur Lasenby Liberty opened his first store on Regent Street, May 15th 1875. To mark this special anniversary year Liberty has embarked on a non-conventional programme of cultural activities, including the exhibition I Am. We Are. Liberty. within the landmark Tudor-style building on Regent Street, curated by independent consultant and art historian Ester Coen. After London the I Am. We Are. Liberty. exhibition will travel to the UK Pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka 2025 opening in August.

I Am. We Are. Liberty. is designed to invite visitors into a journey through the often unseen aspects of the Liberty Archive and Design Studio, presenting new historical and cultural perspectives alongside the well-known and much-loved prints and fabrics, with a story that reveals Liberty to be more than an enterprise, more than a store, and more than a design company.

Celebrating its global creative community, Liberty also partners with esteemed cultural institutions, museums, and artists on a series of initiatives throughout the year, including collaborations with the Design Council, Imperial War Museums, Sir John Soane’s Museum, the Wallace Collection and William Morris Gallery.

The publication I Am. We Are. Liberty. curated and edited by Ester Coen and published by Trolley is designed to weave together for the first time, in a very original style and methodology, the various strands of Liberty’s cultural offering, with contributions from The Liberty group ( Adil M-Khan, Group CEO; Andrea Petochi, Managing Director; William Le Clerc, Chief People Officer; Silvia Spagnol, co-curator of the exhibition I Am.  We Are. Liberty.) and renowned writers and critics Alice Rawsthorn, Barry Miles, Emma Dabiri, Louis Wise, Owen Hatherley and Thomas Heatherwick. There are individual publications representing the Liberty cultural partners and exhibition lenders: Caro Howell MBE and Rebecca Newell (Imperial War Museums), Hadrian Garrard (William Morris Gallery), Minnie Moll (Design Council), Dr Nicholas Cullinan OBE (British Museum), Will Gompertz (Sir John Soane’s Museum) and Xavier Bray (the Wallace Collection). There are also texts from additional Liberty collaborators including the renowned artist Grayson Perry, Harry Pearce of Pentagram and Jessica Reynolds of vPPR architects.

Unconventional in its approach, the publication is not a book, but is showcased as an ‘exhibition in a box’ that follows in the footsteps of Marcel Duchamp’s La Boîte-en-valise, Andy Warhol’s Index and Photoworks’s Festival in a Box, designed so that Liberty followers all over the world can share in the scope of the landmark celebration without even visiting the London store. A beautiful cloth-covered box, covered in trademark Liberty prints, echoes the layered experience of the exhibition, whilst inside it is filled with individual publications and objects that relate to the various histories, collaborations and rich Liberty archive materials involved. These include a photo album of Arthur Lasenby Liberty and his wife Emma’s trip to Japan in 1889 (where she took the photographs and he wrote the travel diary), postcards, temporary tattoos of Liberty designs, stickers of the Pentagram-designed font and a cut out 3D model of the exhibition designed by the vPPR group.

On the occasion of Liberty’s 150th anniversary, the travelling exhibition and publication highlights new historical, social and cultural perspectives, presenting Liberty’s past as a way to invite people to engage with its future.

Ester Coen is an art historian and curator. She is an expert on Italian Futurism, the Metaphysical artists, and the international avant-gardes, and her research for her numerous essays and publications extends from the 1960s to the contemporary scene. She has curated many exhibitions, their subjects ranging from Giorgio de Chirico, Umberto Boccioni, Giacomo Balla, and Henri Matisse, to Richard Serra and Gary Hill. She recently edited the book Futurliberty: Liberty Fabrics and the Avant-Garde (Thames and Hudson, 2023).