Art Basel - Brickell City Centre
On December 1, 2015 we welcomed Art Basel 2015 by opening the landmark $1.05 billion Brickell City Centre construction site for elite members of the international art and design communities to experience the project in its unfinished form, celebrating Swire’s commitment to art, sustainability and the community. The VIP evening included an intimate art and design dialogue followed by a cocktail celebration for more than 800 guests, featuring the vinyl-only paradise garage sounds of Wooden Wisdom, the underground celebrity DJ duo of Elijah Wood and Zach Cowie.
Guests also experienced for the first time the illumination of the CLIMATE RIBBON™, a $30 million installation of art and science that spans 150,000 square feet and connects all three blocks of Brickell City Centre. The elevated sculptural trellis consists of steel, fabric and glass and functions as an environmental management system for future shoppers, residents, hotel guests and office tenants of the 9.1-acre site. Select art and design aficionados attended the master dialogue, where famed designer Hugh Dutton, along with Arquitectonica’s Bernardo Fort-Brescia, both instrumental in the CLIMATE RIBBON™’s sustainable design, joined British pop artist Allen Jones to discuss the marriage of art, design, function and relationships with moderator Allison Pickett, Swire’s longtime corporate art consultant. For the first time in the U.S., Jones unveiled his six-ton, 20-foot sculpture, “Dancers,” for the occasion, a sleek oeuvre that greeted guests at the entrance of the site with its sways and curves mimicking the wavelike movement of the CLIMATE RIBBON™ billowing above it. The abstract sculpture, which depicts an interlocked, tangoing couple, has been showcased at the renowned Royal Academy of London as recently as 2014 during Allen Jones’ retrospective exhibition. (Copy from World Red Eye).