“Louvre Looks” – The Louvre invites 20 contemporary artists to collaborate

To kick off its 230th anniversary year, the Louvre is inviting 20 contemporary artists, all under 40, with ties to Paris. Each will participate in "Louvre Look," a visual art project linked to the Parisian museum and its partner institution, Louvre-Lens. Each of the 20 submissions will be a 3:30-minute video. The project was presented at an avant-première screening at the Auditorium Michel Laclotte on January 26, 2023. After that, one video per week will be posted on the Louvre's Instagram account.

At the Louvre's invitation, 20 contemporary figures from every creative sphere will offer their own perspective on the museum. Whether from the worlds of painting, poetry, literature, fashion, experimental music, cinema, installation, or video, all share a deep personal connection with the Louvre, its collections, its visitors, and its life.
This unprecedented program brings together contributions from Ivan Argote, Hicham Berrad, Anton Bialas and Kamilya Kuspanova, Mykki Blanco and Dachi-Giorgi Garuchava, Bianca Bondi, Guillaume Bresson, Jacob Bromberg, Théo Casciani, Pan Daijing, David Douard, Eliza Douglas, Jennifer Douzenel, Mimosa Echard, Miles Greenberg, Rafik Greiss, Marie Jacotey, Christelle Oyiri, Ariana Papademetropoulos, Edgar Sarin, and Marine Serre.

According to Louvre President-Director Laurence des Cars, "The views of these 20 artists reflect original and highly personal, yet universal, responses to our collections. They show us different ways of looking at the Louvre and new, contemporary ways of creating with the museum, confirming its role as a contemporary art venue.".

All the artists participating in the project have already achieved recognition in their field. Regardless of their backgrounds and artistic practices, they have left their mark, becoming important participants in contemporary art, and have made the museum their muse.

This innovative project consists of 20 videos, each approximately 3:30 minutes long. It gave the artists the opportunity to define their own perspective on the Louvre. From the magnificent staircase to the marble floors, from the Cour Khorsabad to the Flemish painting galleries, from the Salle des Caryatides to the medieval French sculpture galleries, each artist created a work that reflected their personal perspective on the entire museum.

Together, the artists—working with film crews or their own cell phones, at night or during visiting hours, using digital resources or focusing on a personal connection with the works—created a polyphonic portrait of the Louvre as life and audiences returned to the museum.

These days, anyone can use video to become part of the museum by using their mobile phone to take photos or videos. This medium is used by both the general public and major filmmakers, who have used it to present their own perspectives on the Louvre. Continuing this tradition, the museum presented films by 20 artists in a public screening on January 26th during the International Art Film Festival (Journées Internationales du Film d'Art), where renowned artist Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster was the guest of honor. In addition to this event at the Paris museum, the artists' works are being exhibited at the Louvre-Lens, strengthening the collaboration between the two museums.

The project will also be presented to the public through weekly videos posted on the Louvre's digital platforms (including its Instagram account, which has approximately 5 million subscribers). The videos will ultimately take on a life of their own in the hands of the artists who created them.

"Louvre Looks" continues the invitation extended to a number of contemporary artists (such as Candida Höfer, Jenny Holzer, Anselm Kiefer, Martin Szekely, Yan Pei-Ming) who have collaborated with the Louvre in the past to select and comment on a work of art on the Louvre's Instagram. Both programs expand upon and showcase the museum's community of artist-travellers who have participated in the Louvre's artistic life over the past two decades. They underscore the Louvre's unique status as a home for artists, a tradition that dates back to the 18th century, when it housed artists' studios.

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