By Howard Cohen
Miami Herald
WWR Article Summary (tl;dr) Artist Qinmin Liu is the founder/creator of “Angelhaha Airline” which will fly one-way only to art events and has just nine seats.
Miami Herald
Artist Qinmin Liu thinks flying is a pain in the easel.
So she’s created her own airline for artists that will fly only to art events, like Art Basel in Miami Beach, its maiden destination. She’s calling her art project-business Angelhaha Airline.
If the 13-second, dialog- and text-free commercial she aired on Chinese television reveals anything about the name or service, it suggests Liu likes to laugh. A lot.
On Liu’s Angelhaha Airline website she explains a bit more.
“Angelhaha pursues a positive spirit: Happiness is ahead of you.”
Its slogan, “Angelhaha Airline promises to only fly to art,” tells at least part of the story: Angelhaha Airline will fly one-way only to art events and has just nine seats.
Presumably, the artists who take Liu up on her offer can book passage home with the non-artisan on American, United, Delta and so forth.
In addition to New York-Miami for Basel Dec. 6, Angelhaha Airline lists flights to San Francisco for Untitled in January, New York’s Armory Show in March, and Art Basel in Hong Kong in March and Switzerland in June.
The airline isn’t going after the big guys, though she’s plenty critical of traditional carriers.
“I hate traveling,” Liu told ArtNet News. “Every time I go back home I spend 14 hours in an airplane, and I’m always thinking about their service, the food, the movies, the quality of attendants, and even the smell, and wondering: Is there something I can do about this?”
This combination art project-business could offer a solution, if not provide an ongoing answer.
It “is influenced by the idea of combining ‘flying with happiness’ with perfect and unpredicted services on an airplane,” the New York School of Visual Arts graduate’s website explains. “Angelhaha makes your life happier. Yes! Art makes your life happier.”
OK. Now that we’re smiling, how much is all of this going to cost?
Liu doesn’t list prices for this limited seating extravagance to Miami’s Art Basel.
In an interview with ArtNet News, she declined to give the prices for that route. She didn’t respond to a query from the Miami Herald. But she told ArtNet that flights to the other destinations will run from $300 to $3,000.
And she says that not only is the art-airline concept her own, but she’s also serving as flight attendant, and the food, drinks, other amenities and smell will be up to her artistic standards.
