Espace Louis Vuitton Beijing Marks Dual Anniversary with Jean-Michel Othoniel Glass Installation Showcase

Marking the 20th anniversary of the Espaces Louis Vuitton and the 10th anniversary of the Fondation Louis Vuitton’s Hors-les-murs programme, the Espace Louis Vuitton Beijing unveils an exhibition which presents installation works by French artist Jean-Michel Othoniel. The Hors-les-murs programme showcases holdings of the Collection at the Espaces Louis Vuitton in Tokyo, Munich, Venice, Beijing, Seoul and Osaka, thereby embodying the Fondation Louis Vuitton’s mission to mount international projects and reach a broader global audience. 

After experimenting with photography, sulphur, and obsidian, Jean-Michel Othoniel encounters glass in 1996, a shift he describes as moving from “shadow” to “light.” Since then, glass has become the central medium of a practice grounded in collaboration with artisans and in a close engagement with material processes. Whether working within traditional craft workshops or contemporary technological environments, Othoniel embraces the unpredictable moments that arise through making moments, in which accident, gesture, and transformation shape the final work. 

Poetry and literature play a fundamental role in the artist’s thought process. Inspired by French psychiatrist and psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan, Othoniel conceives exhibitions as emotional and spatial compositions. His works draw on diverse references — from devotional objects and folk craft traditions to spiritual symbolism and personal memory — creating environments in which fragility becomes a poetic force rather than a sign of weakness. Regardless of scale, each piece embodies his ambition: to erect monuments to human fragility. Within these forms reside the key driving forces of his œuvres — poetry, history, beauty, and love. 

The exhibition brings together works that reveal this breadth of references. In Lágrimas (2002), glass bottles filled with water suspend delicate forms that shimmer like tears, evoking spaces of prayer and contemplation. In Le Bateau de Larmes [The Boat of Tears] (2004), a small boat discovered on the shores of Miami (USA) becomes a tribute to migration and memory, crowned with luminous glass beads that transform tragedy into hope. 

In the final room, two major works enter into dialogue. White Wild Lei (2009), a monumental necklace inspired by the Hawaiian gesture of welcoming strangers with flowers, evokes the sacred form of the mandorla and honours those who remain present through memory. Nearby, Rivière Rose (2026), a site-specific installation created for the exhibition, spreads across the floor like a luminous pink river composed of hand-cast glass bricks. Together, these works invite visitors into a contemplative landscape shaped by light, colour, and movement — an environment where beauty, in Othoniel’s words, has the power to protect itself.