Twenty works by artists including Takashi Murakami, JR, Emily Mae Smith, Daniel Arsham, and Bharti Kher are about to be hidden in one of the highest-stakes treasure hunts Paris has ever seen.
“Wanted!” a collaborative project between Perrotin Gallery and the Grand Palais, will take place next week between October 24 and 25. Participants who secured a spot in the scavenger hunt will have the chance to take home whichever works they find concealed in the empty nave of the iconic Grand Palais.
It's an unusual gimmick, but uncertain times call for unorthodox ideas. Art dealer Emmanuel Perrotin explained in a statement that, “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.”
“These experiments are part of the history of avant-garde art, and it’s truly astonishing how some of the participating artists have inventively hidden their work within the Grand Palais,” Chris Dercon, president of the Grand Palais, said in a statement.
Due in part to social-distancing restrictions, the treasure hunt has been separated into 50-minute sessions, with a 500-person maximum capacity per slot.
