Alain Elkann Interviews Alain Elkann

A FIGHTER FOR EGALITARIANISM AND JUSTICE. Judy Chicago is an artist, author, feminist, cultural historian, and educator who lives and works in New Mexico, USA. In 2018 she was named one of Time Magazine’s most influential people, and she has garnered an enduring stature. Born Judy Cohen in 1939, and known briefly after her first marriage as Judy Gerowitz, Chicago attended the Art Institute of Chicago and the University of California, Los Angeles. In 1970, she adopted the surname ‘Chicago’ and initiated the United States’ first Feminist Art Programme at California State University, Fresno. Chicago became particularly well known for her 1970s installation The Dinner Party. In 2024 her show Revelations is at London’s Serpentine and Herstory is at LUMA Arles.
“Feminist art promotes diversity. I believe that every voice counts.”
“I look at the history of art as the history of men’s art, and so feminist art opens the way for a history of women’s art.”
“I don’t think people quite understand how much work it is for an artist to have three shows within one year.”
 

CLASSIC WITH A MODERN TWIST. Charles Zana is a highly sensitive architect who imagines each project through the lens of a French lifestyle. He is also a passionate collector like his father, and has done in-depth research on the great Italian design masters of the 20th century such as Ettore Sottsass and Carlo Scarpa. In 2019 Charles Zana was named Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres by David Caméo, director of the Musée des Arts Décoratifs.
“I like to always start from a classic design, and then to treat it in a modern way.”
“People don’t accept the simple beautiful project; they want to understand what is behind it.”
“I became a good architect and then I became fashionable.”

THE ARTIST IS UTOPIC. Yinka Shonibare CBE RA is a celebrated British artist whose work explores cultural identity, colonialism and post-colonialism within the contemporary context of globalisation. His show Suspended States is at Serpentine from 12th April until September 1st 2024 and is his first London solo exhibition in over 20 years.
“Artists are always utopian in their thinking, but then somehow we always fail this utopia, because it’s never actually realised.”
“I was asking myself if can I make a work of art that’s really about nothing. Literally about wind.”
“I don’t want to make literal abstractions, but I can get to the sublime through reality.”

THE PROMISED PARTY. Jennifer Clement is the President Emerita of PEN International and the author of multiple books, including Widow Basquiat and Gun Love. The recipient of many awards, her books have twice been a New York Times Editor’s Choice. Under her leadership at PEN International, and being the only woman elected since the organization was founded in 1921, the groundbreaking PEN International Women’s Manifesto and The Democracy of the Imagination Manifesto were created. As President of PEN Mexico (2009-2012), Clement was instrumental in changing the law to make killing a journalist a federal crime.
“The book is fragmentary in the sense that it is written in very short chapters.  It is also the story of how I became a writer and a tale of two cities.“
“I felt it was very important that PEN International, the largest and oldest writers’ organisation, defend the right for writers to use their imaginations and be who you are not.“
“The gun shot low.”

ENJOYING A NEW CHALLENGE. Minsuk Cho is the South Korean architect who has envisioned the Serpentine Pavilion 2024, the 23rd pavilion in the series, in London’s Kensington Gardens. It is titled Archipelagic Void as a unique void surrounded by a constellation of smaller adaptable structures, each of which has a specific purpose: the Gallery, the Auditorium, the Library, the Play Tower and the Tea House. Minsuk Cho trained in Seoul and New York, and worked in America and the Netherlands before returning to Korea to open his own practice, which he calls Mass Studies.
“Architecture’s unique language allows people to interact, engage and understand in a very positive way.“
“This Serpentine project is exciting because the whole thing only takes six months from conception to completion.“
“The world is changing, and I don’t want to become a jaded professional. I take everything as a new challenge.“

WRITERS ARE UNBALANCED PEOPLE. Paul Theroux is an American novelist and travel writer known for his highly personal award-winning observations on many locales. Over 50 works of fiction and travel writing include modern classics The Great Railway Bazaar, The Old Patagonian Express, My Secret History and The Mosquito Coast. Theroux’s recent book, Burma Sahib, explores Eric Blair’s years as a British Raj police officer in colonial Burma that transformed him into the anticolonial writer, George Orwell.
"A novelist speculates, and that's my role in life: to invent, to imagine, and to create the person"
"The writer is defining himself or herself with each book"
"Most of my books are about a person, usually a man somewhat like myself, that needs to solve a problem"