Joana Vasconcelos Invites Everyone to Step Into Her Wedding Cake
Wedding Cake is the newest and most ambitious work of art to date for Joana Vasconcelos.
This visual artist already counts many renowned works, such as A Noiva [The Bride] and, most recently, Valkyrie Miss Dior for Dior’s Fall/Winter 2023/2024 fashion show. But now Vasconcelos is working on a 12-meter ceramic sculptural pavilion in the form of a three-tiered cake set in the UK.
This colossal project is an installation that welcomes everyone to step inside and see the wedding cake up close. The main material is made of ceramic tiles crafted by Viúva Lamego. The first tiles factory in Portugal which dates back to the 19th century.
Here each tier reminds us of the epitome of a wedding cake. You step into a green ground floor, and then you can go up the stairs to the next levels, blue, pink, and yellow, in this order.
While you walk up this wedding cake tower, you will pass over 15,000 tiles and 1,000 decorative handmade pieces. Afterward, when you reach the crown at the top of the cake, you become the bride or groom that typically stands at the top of the quintessential wedding cake of many tales.
This piece has the intricate details of any wedding cake, with frosting tips, delicate swirls, and colorful design. Moreover, as it is known for cakes, this one also has a recipe the artist shared on her social platforms.
Ingredients:
1 powerful idea
1 visionary patron
2 international teams
Pinch of experts
Tons of iron
Plenty of artisan tiles
More than enough ceramic pieces
Sweat, effort, and hope in generous doses
Instructions:
Blend everything together with generous amounts of creativity and patience. Bind into different panels; raise four tiers to a height of 12 meters. Assemble at Waddesdon. Serve with love.
As an artist, Joana Vasconcelos hopes every visitor has at least three different approaches to it. “Looking from the outside, enjoying the surroundings from the different levels or balconies and rising to the top, finally completing the artwork with their presence”. She continues saying, “above all, I always thought of it as a temple to love”.
Wedding Cake was commissioned by the Rothschild Foundation, a charity group supporting arts and heritage, and will be shown in the garden of their estate Waddesdon Manor. This is not Vasconcelos’s first commissioned piece by the Rothschild estate. At the Waddesdon Manor gardens, you can also see Lafite (2015), a work featuring two big candlesticks made out of wine bottles.
This installation will be open to visitors at the Rothschild’s Waddesdon Manor from June 8th to October 26th, 2023. Find more information on tickets for this guided tour here.
Words by @madforyou_lhm
Feature Image: Joana Vasconcelos in Wedding Cake, Photo Courtesy of Atelier Joana Vasconcelos
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