Imagine a world post-lockdown with Magnum’s ‘Pleasure Imagined’

Take a moment to imagine a world post-lockdown where we can share in moments of pleasure, together, once more. 

Our new digital art exhibition, Pleasure Imagined, features original artworks from all over the world and aims to raise funds for women cocoa farmers in need.

You can download these thirteen artworks here. Clicking the image or the button will open the full-sized image in a new browser tab, so you can easily save them to your hard drive or set them as your desktop background.

At Magnum, we believe a day without pleasure is a day lost. 

With city streets no longer bustling with busy commuters as they once were, we have created a digital art exhibition for Pleasure Seekers to imagine a world where lockdown restrictions are no more, and we can share in moments of pleasure again. 

Pleasure Imagined invites virtual visitors to step into the imagination of artists from Spain, Italy, Argentina, Brazil and beyond and make a donation to women cocoa farmers in Ivory Coast, where Magnum sources much of its cocoa from.

Starting 25th May, our official Instagram account (@Magnum, link opens in new window) will profile a new artist every day, showcasing their one of a kind artwork and the inspiration behind it. 

Magnum’s lead artist and kicking off the exhibition, French-Ivorian Aurélia Durand’s West African heritage inspired her uniquely recognisable afro-pop artwork. The bespoke artwork sees a collision of colours adorn an original photograph taken by her father of The Basilica of Our Lady of Peace in Yammasoukro in 1991 on a family trip to her mother’s native Ivory Coast, where Magnum sources much of its cocoa from.

As part of the exhibition and to kick off a 2-year programme with NGO partner 100WEEKS, Magnum has committed an unconditional donation of €250,000 to get much needed cash transfers to its cocoa farming communities, who source the cocoa beans used to create Magnum chocolate and have been impacted by the pandemic.

Virtual visitors to the exhibition will also be able to make a donation and choose from a selection of original artworks available for digital download, a visual reminder of their contribution.

Magnum’s lead artist, Aurélia Durand, said: “As an artist I always strive to create art that is true to me and what I believe. With the devastation that the current crisis has brought, I am grateful that I can share what pleasure means to me through my most precious and authentic means.

“Creating this piece was such an important and meaningful process, not only am I sharing my hopes for a harmonious and bright future, but the funds generated through this initiative will go towards making this a reality for cocoa farming communities in Ivory Coast impacted during these difficult times.”

This is the third year of Magnum’s art collaboration, an ongoing commitment to supporting artists and creators, with previous activations featuring Brendan Monroe in 2019, and French artist Thomas Danthony in 2018.

The donations raised from this year’s art collaboration project will provide women cocoa farmers with direct, weekly payments, as well as training and coaching to develop their skills so that they can pursue what brings them pleasure.

These cocoa farmers are instrumental to making our delicious Magnum ice cream a reality, helping us to craft the unique, cracking chocolate which is at the heart of our brand. Without them there would be no Magnum.

With the help of our global community we would like to double the number of women we support.

Any donation made to the women farmers within our network will help to make a significant change to their daily lives.