- In recent years, cruise lines have done much to reshape the sailing experience: exploring partnerships with star-level chefs to elevate the food.
- As result they are investing heavily in luxury spa and wellness programs, and even revamping entertainment to include live DJs and drag brunches on board.
- Now, they’re investing in another way to change the ships—onboard art collections.
As per the new article published in CN Traveler, we can have a look at how cruise ships are building gallery-worthy art collections.
Sheer number of works
The sheer number of works on even a small ship can be dizzying.
The 600-passenger Seabourn Ovation carries 1,600 works of art from nearly 120 artists, while its sister ship, Seabourn Encore, has a similar number.
Seabourn turned to Tal Danai, founder and CEO of art consultancy ArtLink, to source and commission all of the art for both. He and three curators worked closely with noted designer Adam Tihany, who led the design vision for the ships, to create a narrative to guide the project.
For Ovation the theme was “revisited memories,” and the team created a mood board, complete with key words and touch points as well as possible artworks and artists, that they could reference when considering works.
“We told them to make a manifestation of what they felt, and we got beautiful works of art,” Danai said. “One artist embroidered a classic botanical drawing, one cut out the images from a book and left only text. Now, passengers walk by and look, and relate to a piece of art.”
Danai and his team
Danai and his team also commissioned a number of craft pieces, including vases from Korean artist Yoo Eui Jeong, whose work is in museum collections in Korea and Norway.
They commissioned artist Valeria Nascimento to create a black porcelain work for the wall of the ship’s Japanese restaurant; they had her son, Lucas, create a white porcelain piece that hangs opposite, separated by a window.
Paris-based graffiti artist Shuck
That’s not uncommon for cruise lines that know they have some advantages in how they display these works.
When Ponant was building the 184-passenger Le Jacques Cartier explorer ship, they commissioned Paris-based graffiti artist Shuck One to create an ocean-and-nature themed piece on the raw steel of the ship.
Then they covered it up—except for a secret porthole where passengers can catch a glimpse of the hidden work. “It’s a surprise and delight moment for passengers when they discover the piece,” says Jean Emmanuel Sauvée, president and CEO of the line.
It’s a lesser-known aspect of cruising, but these lines are giving young and contemporary artists visibility and more paths to earn a living through their art.
They’re also surrounding passengers with original artwork, sculpture, tapestries, photography, and ceramics—enriching the cruise experience and creating moments of enchantment along the way.
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Source: CN Traveler
