Some people say museums are a bore. This is museum probably not what they are referring to when they make such a careless statement.
Art, celebrities, sex, greed, fantasy, over-the-top decadence, and superb fashion will all be witnessed at The 24 Hour Museum. The upcoming guerilla pop-up project from superteam Francesco Vezzoli and Miuccia Prada will take over Paris' Palais d'Iena for, you guessed it, 24 hours. It will make you gasp, tingle and drool (for a limited time only!)
The palace housing the art bacchanal normally acts as France's economic and social and environmental council. Vezzoli gleefully announced plans to fill the hall with neo-classical sculptures with celebrity heads that light up, making the vibes very "Brothel in Las Vegas." The ephemeral exhibition will address the mythical vision we hold of classical Greece as pristine and white when, in fact, those classical sculptures we study were once painted.
Vezzoli's magic lies in his ability to create unabashed kitsch monsterpieces with a deeper, almost political message for those who seek it. By turning a political edifice into a gaudy loveden Vezzoli reveals that underneath it all is power playing its game, whether in law, sex, fame or politics.
Vezzoli's night of luxury is also set to include a Twitter conversation between Vezzoli and a secret celebrity who he refers to as bigger than Lady Gaga. And Vezzoli would know, through his performance with Gaga playing a Damien Hirst designed piano at a MOCA event while wearing a Frank Gehry hat. These are the kind of high-profile hijinx that Vezzoli churns out. Who needs depth when the shallow can look so good?
Vezzoli's past works include extravagant pranks such as a star-studded trailer to a fake remake of Caligula in which Helen Mirren and Benicio del Toro wear togas. Then there is the Roman Polanski directed commercial for a non-existent perfume called 'Greed' in which Natalie Portman and Michelle Williams wrestle. Some might say providing advertisements for fictitious subjects is a tease, that Vezzoli's works don't, in fact, point anywhere. But then again, look at them glitter.
So what is the point of the museum? According to Vezzoli, to make viewers smile. Is this enough? You'll have to see, won't you?
The 24 Hour Museum will be open January 24th in Paris.