A giant scavenger hunt for art lovers

UNCERTAIN times call for unorthodox ideas. Perrotin Gallery is collaborating with Paris's Grand Palais for a giant scavenger hunt, which will take place October 24 and 25. The rules are simple: participants have to locate 20 artworks by contemporary artists that have been hidden around the empty nave of the Palais. Even more surprisingly, they can take home any artwork that they have found.

Participants will go on the hunt for works that 20 international artists on Perrotin's rooster have donated for the event. Among them are Takashi Murakami, JR, Daniel Arsham, Emily Mae Smith, Laurent Grasso, Iván Argote, Aya Takano and Bharti Kher. 

"Since we don't know where we are going, it is almost as if anything is possible: immense, adventurous, and unapologetic projects make us feel connected to the world in this moment .... Works of art are more precious than ever, which is why it is important to offer them to as many people as possible," art dealer Emmanuel Perrotin said in a statement.

 

 

 

 

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? Find one of these works and take it home. #WantedGP Next week, you'll be looking for these works at @Le_Grand_Palais, generously donated by our artists. We're counting down the days! We apologize for those who could not get a ticket. For safety precautions, capacity of the Grand Palais has been limited to 20%. Follow @Wanted__GP and join in on the fun online too ? — ? Trouvez une de ces oeuvres et repartez avec. #WantedGP On compte les jours ! Le weekend prochain, vous serez en train de chercher ces oeuvres, généreusement offertes par nos artistes, dans @Le_Grand_Palais. Nous sommes désolés pour ceux et celles qui n'ont pas pu obtenir de billet. En raison de la situation sanitaire actuelle, la jauge du Grand Palais a été limitée à 20% de sa taille initiale. Suivez @Wanted__GP pour être sûrs de ne rien rater ? — #WantedGP #GrandPalais #Perrotin — Courtesy of the artists and Perrotin

A post shared by Perrotin Gallery (@galerieperrotin) on Oct 18, 2020 at 11:18am PDT

The idea for "Wanted!" stems from a project by Elmgreen & Dragset organized in September 2016 by Perrotin. The Berlin-based artist duo staged an art fair booth in the empty nave of the Grand Palais a month before the opening of the FIAC contemporary art fair.

The 2020 edition of the Parisian event was recently canceled in reaction to a surge in coronavirus cases in France.

In order to comply with social-distancing guidelines, the 13,500 sq metre nave of the glass-roofed Grand Palais, which is also known as a venue for Chanel runway shows,  will be filled to 20 percent capacity, and face masks will be compulsory during the entire scavenger hunt. 

"Like many... works of art are usually not within my grasp, and I cannot have everything that I see," Chris Dercon, president of the Grand Palais, said in a statement.

"With WANTED!, the value of the work depends on the effort made by the visitors. Indeed, the true love of art is often a matter of chance: you often find what you were not really looking for. And it's also true that in many public and private collections, works of art are hidden." – ETX Studio, October 20, 2020