Josèfa Ntjam Makes a Landmark Showing With LVMH, and Other News

The Design Dispatch offers expertly written and essential news from the design world crafted by our dedicated team. Think of it as your cheat sheet for the day in design delivered to your inbox before you’ve had your coffee. Subscribe now. 

Josèfa Ntjam Makes a Landmark Showing With LVMH

So far, 2024 is shaping up to be a banner year for the French multidisciplinary artist Josèfa Ntjam. Earlier this year, she made her U.S. debut with an exhibition of sculpture, film, sound, and digital collage at Fotografiska New York, immersing visitors in a trippy interpretation of “radical liberation” movements pulled from real life and fiction alike. Now, after having spent the entirety of 2023 in residence with LVMH’s Métier d’Art, Ntjam recently wrapped up a major sculpture exhibition with the French luxury conglomerate.

During her residency, Ntjam worked from the Portuguese and Parisian workshops of Jade Groupe, which fashions metal hardware for garments produced by LVMH maisons. “Une cosmogonie d’océans” shows an ethereal and regal side to her developing practice. Each of the 12 sculptures are informed by West and Central African diasporic mythology and range in scale from handheld to more than six feet tall. Her followers may be more used to a neon-tinged palette of acid-green, fuchsia and turquoise, but in “Une cosmogonie d’océans,” we’re treated to a slate of regal, ethereal beings who are at once of the moment and redolent of antiquity. —Jenna Adrian-Diaz

The Broad museum taps Diller Scofidio + Renfro for a major $100 million expansion. 

The Broad museum has announced a $100 million expansion project, increasing gallery space by 70 percent after nearly ten years since its initial opening. Diller Scofidio + Renfro will design the expansion, continuing their “veil and vault” concept. The 55,000-square-foot addition will feature new galleries, open-air courtyards, live programming space, and an enhanced visitor-friendly art storage vault experience. Scheduled for groundbreaking in early 2025, the expansion aims to enrich Downtown L.A.’s contemporary art scene, with a public opening expected before the 2028 Los Angeles Summer Olympics and Paralympics.

Bulgari is launching a foundation to protect Italy’s cultural legacy and other ventures.

Fondazione Bulgari was recently launched in Rome by the brand’s CEO Jean-Christophe Babin, with a mission to build on Bulgari’s heritage through initiatives including supporting gender equality, equal access to education, and preserving Italy’s cultural heritage. The foundation also aims to promote contemporary art and support emerging talents, demonstrated through partnerships with institutions like the MAXXI Museum and the Whitney Museum. Additionally, the foundation will continue Bulgari’s longstanding partnership with Save the Children and amplify female voices through initiatives like the Aurora award. Key figures like Laura Burdese will play essential roles in the foundation’s activities, which include expanding initiatives like Bulgari’s Jewelry Academy and establishing the training school La Scuola Bulgari.

Ghanaian artist Ibrahim Mahama wins the inaugural $75,000 Sam Gilliam Award.

Ghanaian artist Ibrahim Mahama has been awarded the inaugural Sam Gilliam Award by the Dia Art Foundation and the Sam Gilliam Foundation, receiving $75,000 and a feature in Dia’s public program this autumn. Known for his use of salvaged materials and community-based projects in Ghana, Mahama was selected for his ambitious and collaborative approach to art, which revitalizes both materials and communities. His work ranges from colorful fabric wall pieces to large-scale installations addressing colonialism, with upcoming projects including wrapping London’s Barbican Centre in textiles. Mahama’s art has been showcased internationally, with recent exhibitions at venues like Desert X AlUla and the Venice Biennale.

A video game designer and opera singer are among the Chanel Next Prize winners. 

Chanel has unveiled the ten recipients of its Chanel Next Prize, each receiving a €100,000 ($107,857) award along with two years of mentorship from cultural partners like the Royal College of Art. The winners, spanning diverse fields from video game design to opera singing, include visual artists Tolia Astakhishvili, Dalton Paula, and Ho Tzu Nyen. Chosen by a panel of judges including Cao Fei, Hans Ulrich Obrist, and Tilda Swinton, these artists are recognized for their groundbreaking work, with Ho Tzu Nyen exploring post-colonial themes in Singapore, Dalton Paula focusing on Black figures in Brazil’s history, and Tolia Astakhishvili blending mediums through installations across Berlin and Tbilisi.

Kim Kardashian is being sued for saying that her tables are authentic Donald Judd.

In 2022, Kim Kardashian showcased Skkn by Kim’s minimalist 40,000-square-foot office, in which she points out tables that resemble those by Donald Judd. Earlier this week, the late artist’s foundation filed a lawsuit against Kardashian and her designer, Clements Design, disputing the furniture’s authenticity of the furniture. The foundation claims trademark and copyright infringement, stating the association with Kardashian could mislead consumers. Despite attempts to settle the matter, negotiations broke down, leading to legal action. 

Today’s attractive distractions:

Vanessa Friedman ruminates on whether or not fashion has canceled canceling.

Pushing oneself towards becoming more productive raises questions of its own.

The Titanic door that saved Rose (but not Jack) fetches over $700,000 at auction.

Notice how Pritzker Prize–winning architects are designing timepieces lately?