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The Cartier Dome at Art Basel Miami

Cartier Dome

David Lynch film is a cosmic trip into a galaxy of diamonds

Even David Lynch was entranced.

Cartier had commissioned the film director to create an art installation to be screened inside the Cartier Dome, a geodesic sphere erected for the Art Basel Miami fair.

The glowing red ball situated in the Miami Beach Botanical Gardens through Dec. 7, 2008 is also where Cartier is displaying a stunning array of jewelry brought in from Cartier boutiques all over the world. 

Lynch, whose seven-minute film is screened every hour on the hour throughout the Art Basel Miami fair, had not had the chance to experience the full impact of his work until he saw it played on the concave screen on Wednesday.

“He was here all day watching it over and over,” a Cartier spokesperson remarked. “He had only ever seen it on his computer.”

Lynch wasn’t the only one who was transfixed. The black and white film, titled Diamonds, Gold and Dreams, opens with a simulated launch into space as asteroid-like diamonds of all cuts and sizes whizz past. Elliptical diamond rings, similar to the ones in Cartier's new Hypnose collection to be released in March, float by and, in an optical illusion, feel as if they might land right on the viewer’s head. At one point, the diamonds filling the screen shatter, and seem to rain down on the audience. Another magical moment is when the dome is covered in quivering baguettes, like a galaxy where everything is perfectly ordered, even the stars.

Lynch’s trip into orbit felt as rare and delightful as the jewels at hand. More about those in our next dispatch.