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Artist JR's latest installation transforms the Great Pyramids of Giza, a top-ical new NFT

2021-10-22T19:02:00-04:00

As part of a new exhibition at Egypt’s Great Pyramids of Giza, French artist JR has transformed the 4,500-year-old World Heritage Site into a haunting levitated mass, done over in steel and mesh, that will also be minted as a 4,591-piece NFT representing his first foray into the newfound digital realm .

Titled Forever is Now, the exhibition is put on by Art D’Egypte with support from UNESCO and the country’s Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities.

“Egyptian culture is a gift to humanity, and the purpose of this exhibition is to showcase these treasures in a dialogue with the contemporary on an international scale,” Art D’Egypt founder Nadine A. Ghaffar said in a statement. “Ancient Egypt has influenced artists from around the world, and so we bring the world to Egypt and Egypt to the world through art.”

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Art D’Égypte (@artdegypte)

JR says his latest installation is in some ways an expansion on his 2016 Louvre installation...

Will a Louvre x Airbnb partnership be "disastrous" for the tourist-choked museum?

2019-09-20T12:21:00-04:00

In May of this year Airbnb conducted a competition allowing two winners the ability to spend a night at the iconic Louvre Museum in Paris. This "night at the museum" created quite a bit of buzz, however, not everyone was pleased with the museum's new attention and partnership with the billion dollar homestay company.

According to some, Paris is already a place flooded with tourists and visitors. Previously we've reported on the Louvre's overwhelming number of tourists and museum visits and how visitor attendance is affecting the museum staff and community. Recently, the Louvre stated they are teaming with Airbnb by allowing visitors to book after-hours guided tours of the museum when the site is otherwise closed. According to a news release from The Art Newspaper visitors "can be booked via Airbnb whose 'hosts' will show visitors key works (prices start at €30)."

One individual who is irked and disappointed by the Louvre's recent decision is Paris' city deputy mayor of housing, Ian...

The Mona Lisa: Mysterious, on the move, and very popular

2019-08-13T10:03:00-04:00

Leonardo da Vinci’s famous painting has been moved to a new room in the Louvre while its usual home is renovated. That’s causing some commotion for visitors.

This year, as the Salle des États, where the Mona Lisa painting has hung since 2005, is being renovated, a debate over how to address the growing number of tourists visiting the famous painting has come to a fore in Paris.

The exhibition hall, according to The New York Times, is being renovated in advance of a new exhibition celebrating the 500th anniversary of Da Vinci’s death that is set to debut in October.

Here's your chance to win a sleepover inside the Louvre's glass pyramid

2019-04-03T16:06:00-04:00

To celebrate the 30th anniversary of the I.M. Pei-designed Musée du Louvre Pyramid, Airbnb has partnered with the museum to offer the exclusive opportunity of a night inside the iconic glass structure.

Courtesy of Airbnb

According to contest's website, the night begins with a VIP after hours tour of the museum, followed by a Renaissance-inspired apéritif with the Mona Lisa and dinner with the Venus of Milo (because, of course), before an intimate acoustic concert in Napoleon III’s lavish apartments gets the lucky winner sleepy enough for bedtime under the stars of Paris inside the glass Pyramid.

Courtesy of Airbnb

The vacation rental site has offered the chance to win a night in extraordinary spaces before, such as the JDS-designed Holmenkollen Ski Jump in Oslo, BIG's LEGO House in Denmark, artsy artsy Amsterdam "tents", a floating house on the River Thames, Australian IKEA showrooms, or the spacious Great Wall of China (which was eventually canceled due to public outcry).

Courtesy of...

For its 30th birthday, Artist JR creates a large-scale optical illusion at the Louvre Pyramid

2019-04-01T19:05:00-04:00

When built in 1989 by Chinese-American architect I.M. Pei, the glass pyramid was derided as a sacrilegious addition to the historic Louvre Museum. But three decades later, the once-reviled Louvre Pyramid has become a beloved Paris landmark and highly-visited tourist attraction.

This weekend, the iconic project celebrated its 30th anniversary. For the festivities, the Paris museum enlisted the French street artist JR who, three years ago, covered the pyramid in a giant trompe l’oeil that made it disappear behind a giant black-and-white photo.

A continuation on this prior piece, his latest work saw the help of 400 volunteers, who worked for four days to surround the glass pyramid with 2,000 strips of paper. His latest stunt installation, the collage created the optical illusion that the pyramid was rising from a rock quarry.

Shortly after its announcement, it was destroyed underfoot as visitors left the paper collage in shreds. On the project's planned destruction, JR said "the imag...

Artist JR covers the I.M. Pei's Pyramid in giant image of the Louvre

2016-05-24T13:28:00-04:00

Whether it be the Middle East, the favelas of Rio, slums of Kenya, New York, Le Havre or Shanghai, JR’s works leave no one indifferent, because they return our gaze and cut to the very heart of our innermost selves. [...] Invited by the “biggest museum in the world”—which also generates the most selfies—JR has set his sights on one of the Louvre’s symbols, the Pyramid, which he intends to transform with a surprising anamorphic image.

The artist JR, best known for his series of giant portraits wheat-pasted in cities around the world, has been commissioned to create a piece for the Louvre. Documenting the progress on his Instagram account, JR has been covering I.M. Pei's iconic glass Pyramid with an anamorphic image of the edifice behind it: the Sully Wing of the Louvre.

"I will never forget this day. Today I'm going to make the Louvre Pyramid disappear," JR told the Humans of Paris Facebook account. "I want to make the Louvre Pyramid disappear because I want people to see themselves alone, just their head and the Louvre.

"I find it funny seeing people taking selfies all day in front of the pyramid but always with their back to the Louvre," he continues. "It says a lot about our society where people turn their back on things and focus on themselves."

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