Old Masters Outside

I love the aesthetics and idea of the ambitious public art project, or “global participation project”, initiated by French artist and filmmaker Julien de Casabianca even if it is somewhat at odds with my respect for private property. The Outings project encourages people around the world to go to their local museum, snap a photograph of an overlooked old (or not-so-old) painting, make a print and affix it to a neglected building or wall in their city, and then take a picture of the image in its new locale. There are galleries of these pictures from all over the world on the Outings website, and exhibitions to come. There is definitely a spirit of subtle outlawry here: the “process” section reads: No photography allowed in a museum ? If you do it fast and discrete you will be able to take photos before they ask you to stop. You can try your “mistake” again in another room ; generally they don’t follow you and they don’t share the information about you. (But what am I complaining about? I do this all the time!). As for the tagging, participants are urged to use only abandoned or neglected walls, and if the wall has been recently repainted, try to respect the energy that people put into that, respect their freedom to have nothing on it. When taking a picture of the new juxtaposition, de Casabianca urges his participants to include passersby, as the “heart” of the project is an encounter, as anonymous people from paintings meeting anonymous people from the street. The Renaissance historian in me, and the educator, wants the captured paintings to NOT be anonymous in terms of both subject and artist, but at the same time, I realize that there is a lot to admire in this project, particularly the mix of local and global: residents of a city are “liberating” little-seen treasures in their museums, and bringing them into the streets, and the world. I’m wondering if I should walk over to the Peabody Essex Museum and pick out my prey……

Outings Installations in New York City (Metropolitan Museum of Art), London (National Gallery), Paris (the Louvre), New Orleans (The New Orleans Museum of Art), Dallas (The Dallas Museum of Art), and Warsaw (Muzeum Narodowe w Warszawie):  more cities at the Outings Project.