Creative director Riccardo Tisci paid homage to the closing of “Natures Mortes,” the German artist’s latest exhibition, with an ad-hoc fashionable event attended by international stars including Eliza Douglas, Ib Kamara, Ezra Miller, Irina Shayk, Candice Swanepoel, and more

Words by: Gilda Bruno

On Tuesday, Burberry‘s Chief Creative Officer Riccardo Tisci threw a special party at Paris’s Palais De Tokyo to celebrate the impending closing of “Natures Mortes,” the newest show of Anne Imhof, running until October 24 at the same location.

Featuring a wide array of artworks, from paintings and audiovisual pieces to installations and live performances, “Natures Mortes” is an emblematic manifestation of the German artist’s eclecticism in approaching art and its numerous expressions.

PARIS, FRANCE – OCTOBER 18: ELIZA DOUGLAS and ANNE IMHOF at Palais De Tokyo on October 18, 2021 in Paris, France. (Photo by Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images For Burberry)

Still, the showcase would not have been possible without the unique contributions of a cosmopolitan selection of artists, among which stand out composer Eliza Douglas and photographers Wolfgang Tillmans and Mohamed Bourouissa.

It was with Douglas that Imhof developed SEX. Initially created as a performance for the Tate Modern, this captivating piece has now been turned into a short film with a thirteen-track original score by the American painter and performance artist and Billy Bultheel, on display at Palais De Tokyo, Paris, until this Sunday.

“Thank you everyone involved for your love, rage, radiant minds, extraterrestrial talent, stunning performances, most beautiful music, endless support and patience, inspiration and never ending beauty that went into this film,” wrote Imhof on the project’s launch date, which took place last June 9.

Tisci’s glamorous event was attended by fashion celebrities, fellow artists, and cinema personalities alike, with names ranging from Ib Kamara, Irina Shayk, and Candice Swanepoel to Ezra Miller, Mahmood, and Shygirl. For the occasion, live DJ sets by LSDXOXO, Slim Soledad, Hank Korsan, Joie Iacono, and Guerre Maladie Famine & Sad took over the iconic YOYO club, the Palais De Tokyo go-to-location when it comes to getting loose on the dancefloor.

To honour the enduring collaboration between Burberry and Imhof herself, a bond that began with the co-directed launch of the brand’s Spring/Summer 2021 collection, Imhof and Douglas took part in a special performance alongside a handful of other artists, all dressed in garments by the British fashion house.

As the brand wrote in a statement, “the show was designed as an installation that, exploring the artist’s freedom of expression, would turn fiction into reality, reality into the unreal.”

PARIS, FRANCE – OCTOBER 18: RICCARDO TISCI at Palais De Tokyo on October 18, 2021 in Paris, France. (Photo by Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images For Burberry)