Chanel's new project offers citizens of Earth an other-worldly experience

Chanel has brought together fashion and contemporary art for a collision of creative styles with their travelling exhibition "Mobile Art". It features some 20 celebrated international artists and a variety of artworks largely inspired by Chanel's classic quilted bag.

The artworks are on a two-year journey round world which began in Hong Kong last February. The next stop is Japan, then New York, London, Moscow and Paris, where the exhibition will wind up in January, 2010.

Karl Lagerfeld has chosen world-famous architect Zaha Hadid to design the mobile futuristic pavilion, or "Art Container", in which the exhibition will be housed. Hadid's UFO-like structure of curved, organic forms will set down in each city to offer gallery-goers an other-worldly experience.

"She is the first architect to find a way beyond the all-dominating post-Bauhaus aesthetic. The value of her designs is similar to that of great poetry. The potential of her imagination is enormous," said Lagerfeld of Hadid, during the launch of the mobile art pavilion at the 2007 Venice Biennale.

The doughnut-like shape of the pavilion hides an exhibition space divided into eight sections. Visitors walk through a fantastic environment on a tour that's been designed like a 30-minute film and is available to all, free of charge.

No film would be complete without a soundtrack, and this is delivered through the MP3 player that each participant is given for the duration of the experience. Created as a collaboration between France's Soundwalk label and each of the artists, the soundtrack mixes original music by a range of musicians with voices and ambient sound effects.

"I think that through our architecture we can give people a glimpse of another world, and enthuse them, make them excited about ideas. Our architecture is intuitive, radical, international and dynamic," states Hadid.

The participating artists are Blue Noses, Daniel Buren, David Levinthal, Fabrice Hyber, Leandro Erlich, Lee Bul, Loris Cecchini, Michael Lin, Nobuyoshi Araki, Pierre et Gilles, Sophie Calle/Soju Tao, Stephen Shore, Subodh Gupta, Sylvie Fleury, Tabaimo, Wim Delvoye, Yang Fudong, YZ Kami and Yoko Ono.

Lagerfeld has also used the event's motif in his new design, the 2.55 bag made of alligator skin.