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Bulgari in New York: Art as a Manifesto for an American Conquest

By Jacqueline Chelliah11 septembre 2026

During New York Fashion Week, Bulgari has taken over the High Line with a public art installation by Plastique Fantastique. The latest stop on the global Serpenti Infinito journey, the monumental work embodies the Roman house’s strategy to accelerate its growth in the U.S. market by betting on emotion and cultural immersion.

The installation *auruBOROS—Urban Memory and Collective Dream* has taken the High Line by storm at Little West 12th Street, just beneath the concrete structures of the Standard Hotel in the Meatpacking District (Bulgari)

A monumental form of liquid gold appears to burst directly from the pavement, winding its way through the urban canopy of Manhattan’s elevated park. At once a futuristic organism and an alchemical relic, the installation auruBOROS – Urban Memory and Collective Dream has taken over the High Line at Little West 12th Street, just beneath the concrete structures of the Standard hotel in the Meatpacking District.

From September 10 to 20, 2026, this large-scale public artwork marks the spectacular culmination of Serpenti Infinito. The global artistic journey, launched by the Roman house in Shanghai in 2023 before traveling to Seoul and Mumbai, finds in New York far more than a simple showcase. It stands as a physical manifesto of Bulgari’s accelerating commercial ambitions in the American market.

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An Alchemical Anomaly at the Heart of the City

The Berlin-based duo Plastique Fantastique, who created the installation *auruBOROS - Urban Memory and Collective Dream*, alongside Bulgari CEO Laura Burdese (center) (DR)

Conceived by Berlin-based artist duo Plastique Fantastique (Marco Canevacci and Yena Young), the installation boldly challenges the restrained codes of traditional luxury. Made from a shimmering pneumatic membrane barely 0.2 millimeters thick, the inflatable structure coils around the vegetation and distorts the urban landscape, reflecting back to passersby a transformed image of both the city and themselves.

“The main element of our work is air... It’s massive, it’s adaptable, and it’s exactly what we had planned,” says Marco Canevacci, still marked by the three nights spent installing the work beneath the High Line. “The main criticism is that people think it’s an AI-generated photomontage. But no, it’s actually real.”

For the artists, taming the mythical figure of the auruBoros, the serpent biting its own tail, amid the chaos of New York, meant breaking open the closed circle and releasing it into the crowd.

“We wanted to free this auruBoros by allowing it to extend beyond its own head and reach infinity,” explains Yena Young. “It gives the public the opportunity to imagine their lives or public space differently. We have to remember that the street belongs to everyone, not just institutions. If you manage to change that perspective, you’ve achieved everything.”

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