Before the fall of the Communist block, to have a world famous French company’s logo seen anywhere around Red Square would be considered a crime. During the time of communism, to have a symbol like the Louis Vuitton logo anywhere around the communist states would never happen. It’s been over twenty years since the fall of Communism and Russia has seen capitalism step in -- and now an art piece is taking to Red Square.

Red Square has been known as a tourist attraction as well as a hub for art and political discourse in Moscow. Recently, a performance nailed a sensitive part of his anatomy to the pavement of Red Square as a sign of protest and performance art. Louis Vuitton will not be doing anything that painful but they are doing something that would be considered “performance art”.

And what a grand piece of “performance art” it is. Consider it installation as they have placed a giant branded trunk in the middle of Red Square. Adorned with the logos of Louis Vuitton and a perfect scale match for a piece in their storage line, the giant trunk now stands in the middle of the square overlooked by St. Basil’s Church and the tomb of Vladimir Lenin.

Already the installation piece has received negative attention from figure heads of Russia. "This is a sacred place for the Russian state," said Sergei Obukhov, a member of the Communist Party Central Committee. "There are some symbols that cannot be trivialized or denigrated." Red Square was one of the ignition points of the Bolshevik Revolution and now it hosts a giant art piece dedicated to material wealth and capitalism.

The 30-foot-tall, 112-foot-long brown box adorned with the famed Louis Vuitton logo and the Russian flag that will be home to a temporary exhibit on the history of the company's luggage that will run for six weeks starting Dec. 2. Proceeds from the exhibit will be going to charities local and worldwide.

The Louis Vuitton presentation has been lauded and accepted by a few but it has been detested and hated by several. It’s a little art and capitalism that will temporarily be on display on one of the greatest cultural centers in history.

Image credit: THOR on Flickr