As Emmanuel Macron on the day of his election, the artist JR is filmed going through the Napoleon court of the Louvre at a great pace. The camera placed on a uav pique of the roofs of the museum, where floats the tricolor flag, up to the square from which emerges the pyramid. The tone is immediately given. It is a clash of giants that was played this week between Paris and the palace of the kings became a Republic of the arts, the work of the american architect Ieoh Ming Pei, much maligned at the start and admired today, and the artist French photographer.
On the occasion of the 30 years of the work of the american architect Ieoh Ming Pei, the artist JR puts the Pyramid of the Louvre in the heart of a trompe-l’oeil dante. GONZALO FUENTES/REUTERS
All around the pyramid, volunteers have been busy these last few days to stick of the last rolls of beige paper. New master of the house, the prince of the collage and the photo provided, not make it go away, but to make it emerge from its foundations. The operation was filmed and projected on two giant screens. And the artist himself has been his own media through very long stories of the installation on his account Instagram.
Started Tuesday, the work of 400 volunteers completed on Friday, 18 hours before the ceremony to celebrate the thirtieth anniversary of the pyramid of Ieoh Ming Pei. Was then unveiled «the secret of the great pyramid» on 17.000 m2.
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Day 2 @museelouvre ! Pasting in progress, come see!!! @garybialas
Particularly numerous in this sunny Friday, the tourists déambulaient around security barriers without realizing what that was. They will have to post before one of the two screens on which is projected the installation, to include: the pyramid appears in the middle of its foundations that look like a huge career of white rocks.
For several days, volunteers have been activated to implement this new trompe-l’œil. Benegas Raul/Benegas Raul/ABACA
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Milo Welsh, 18, a trainee in the permanent team of JR, has been happy to be part of a «big family» who rallied around the artist. «The paper comes from the forests of New Zealand: it is écogéré», he says. The Napoleon court is covered, including the basins and the Pyramidions (small pyramids). Everywhere the strips are the same, beige polka dot, black, and together form a maze of forms grayed out.
much maligned before his birth as a «wart», a heresy or even an assault on the historical monument, the pyramid, by which are now the visitor is at the centre of festive events organized by the museum this year.
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A point of anamorphosis, with a camera, has been installed on the roof of the Louvre, which is inaccessible to visitors, and allowed you to animate this gigantic collage.
Three years after dismissing the pyramid, the world famous artist’s photographic collages is and income to arise from its foundations. The mounting financial and technical operation has not been communicated.
Saturday, march 30 in the afternoon, after the first few hours of reopening of the court to the public, the work was already obviously in tatters, not withstanding the passing of the tourists and visitors: