Charles Kaisin’s black and white dream for the Friends of the Centre Pompidou dinner

Is it possible to transform the Centre Pompidou for an evening? For Charles Kaisin, no challenge is too ambitious. Whereas on the occasion of Beaubourg’s fortieth anniversary last year, the Friends of the Centre Pompidou called on Jean-Paul Goude to give life to their annual dinner, yesterday it was up to the Belgian designer and architect to take up the challenge of building a total experience for the members of the association presided over by Léopold Meyer (who recently succeeded Didier Grumbach). Thus, some of the greatest names in the Parisian and international art and cultural life (Christian Boltanski, Kamel Mennour, Emmanuel Perrotin, creators Haider Ackermann, Rick Owens and his partner and muse Michèle Lamy, or Sheila Hicks, currently on display on the first floor) all attended this “dinner like no other”. And that’s an understatement. As one begin the journey to the top floor, it is a complete black and white universe that unfolds one’s eyes. Amidst modern art works, tables, chairs and walls (even table decorations) are covered by the black and white stripes imagined by Charles Kaisin. Guests take their seats and let themselves be guided by an experience that mobilizes their five senses. The dishes are also served under black and white bells. The experiences reaches its peak ad the dessert imagined by the master chocolate maker Pierre Marcolini arrives: a “black moon for white dreams” all high up. This was a fifteenth edition of the dinner within to be remembered.