Top image: Michèle Lamy at ‘Bargican’. Image courtesy of Rick Owens

Michèle Lamy is an enigma, a polymath in the truest sense of the word. Her past reads like an enthralling and utterly eccentric work of fiction; a restaurateur, former cabaret dancer, mystic shaman, performer and artistic muse and guiding spirit for her designer husband Rick Owens, with friends including A$AP Rocky, FKA Twigs and Gareth Pugh. Distinguishable by her long black hair, tattooed fingers, gold plated teeth and a stripe of eyeliner that she wears in the centre of her forehead, Lamy cuts an idiosyncratic figure.

At this year’s Venice Biennale Lamy presented Bargenale, a barge docked at the garden island of Certosa that Lamy and Owens have transformed into an installation artwork, floating restaurant and floating gathering space. The barge represents a manifestation of the way Lamy and Owens have created their own idiosyncratic world; everything, from the sheets to the floors to the toilets, is of their own making.

Fast forward four months and Lamy was at London’s Barbican to show Bargican, an incarnation of her Bargenale project as part of Doug Aitken’s Station to Station project. Within a scaffolding mezzanine structure Lamy hosted one of her legendary multi-sensory events. Chef Dieuveil Malonga created his unique Afro fusion dishes and U.N.K.L.E. founder James Lavelle soundtracked the day utilising the sounds from the installation’s environment.

This week Lamy is back in London to present a video installation documenting her Bargel, Bargenale and Bargican events, directed by Alex Graziolo, as part of Dover Street Market’s open house. Here Lamy sheds light on the works, she is illuminating and vivacious as ever.

“I like to discover places and bring something to them. It’s a way not to feel that you are from outside, I think it’s the shortest way to belong, placing your personality into a setting it’s very much an instinct of life” – Michèle Lamy

Alex James Taylor: How did the Bargican collaboration between you and Doug Aitken originate?
Michèle Lamy: I think this is such a great example of what I love to do. Doug was not on the barge, but the other day I was coming to London, because some other people had asked me if I could transform the barge into something during Frieze. I heard that Doug was having an opening in London, and I’ve known Doug since he was about seventeen, he would come to Les Deux Cafés when he was underage. So I went to Doug’s opening and he said, “We have to see each other!” The last time we saw each other was in Basel, he had this movie playing on a big construction with four walls, I remember this image of Ed Ruscha walking in the desert, that image stayed with me. Anyway, we met in Zurich and we got talking about the barge and he told me that he was doing something at the Barbican and that I should do something with me, so I said of course, thinking it was next year or something, but he replied, “Oh, it’s next week,” [laughs].

So I came with Doug to the Barbican, I looked around and said to him, “Doug, this is bigger than the ritz, it’s enormous,” but then I saw this area under the stairs, and I imagined putting scaffolding in there, a continuation of the barge. It’s with the same people and with the same concept. I had the idea of doing music with cooking, which is why James [Lavelle, U.N.K.L.E.] is here, we wanted to create some sounds to present with the food. Since the first barge idea we had the thought to move on a boat and have people in and keep going, so this is the same story. I’m really grateful to be part of Doug’s project and also to be involved in the Barbican, I was looking around and told Rick [Owens] that with our furniture designs it would be nice to do something here one day.

AJT: The Barbican almost mirrors yours and Rick’s design ethos, very sparse and brutalist
ML: Yeah, it fits, everything fits.

AJT: You seem to have always been drawn towards the idea of hidden spaces. Creating environments and settings that visitors almost have to come across by accident in order to find them, for example you once spoke about doing an event in a desert. What is it about obscure settings that intrigues you?
ML: I like to discover places and bring something to them. It’s a way not to feel that you are from outside, I think it’s the shortest way to belong, placing your personality into a setting it’s very much an instinct of life. I want to discover the world but I want to be able to communicate at the same time, so this is a good passport. I like to use spaces that people would not expect, I like to surprise, but also to create something unique within a setting that doesn’t automatically lend itself to the project.

AJT: You’re known for hosting a lot of amazing, innovative events. Has being the host always been part of your personality?
ML: I think so, there was one part of my family, my mother’s side, they had a restaurant, my grandfather was a big chef at the time and had several places and farms and we were always surrounded by lots of people. Then I was in boarding school and I loved the way I was always with people and I’d always put on shows. I want people to be surprised, today I’m excited because a lot of our friends are coming, but I’m even more excited because [whispering] I don’t know who is coming [laughs].

Michèle Lamy will be at Dover Street Market on Thursday 15th October from 5pm to present her video installation.