What to wear to the museum? It all depends on what's exhibiting and what time of day, right? If it's "Free Friday" then there's no need to consider wardrobe. If it's a late night catered gallery opening, attire may need to be taken up a notch. But what if it's a private showing of the works of Robert Mapplethorpe? It seems like no clothing decisions need to be made. Instead, please R.S.V.P. and leave your clothes at the door.
Approximately 100 visitors to the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts got an immersive tour of the work of late photographer Robert Mapplethorpe on Thursday night. Conducted after regular museum hours, the evening tour allowed people to view the works of the celebrated artist — while they were naked.
The tour is part of the current exhibit at the Museum, Focus: Perfection — Robert Mapplethorpe, a major retrospective of the late controversial artist's photography. "When you look at his photos, you can see the diversity of bodies that he captured," says Thomas Bastien, the Museum's Director of Education and Cultural Action. "We wanted to find a way to reflect that diversity for visitors to the exhibit." – cbc.ca
I think I would be happy to see the diversity in the art, not so much share my "diversity" with all the other museum goers.
This naked viewing of Mapplethorpe is not a new idea and has been done before in Sydney and Vienna, cbc.ca reports. The news source goes on to say this was a collaboration between the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts and Fugues, Montreal's monthly LGBT magazine.
The event's organizers felt the idea of seeing so many nude portraits while the viewers were nude themselves seemed the most fitting way to immerse people into the art. But what they weren't ready for was how popular the event would prove. "We had no idea the proposition would appeal to such a large number of people. After the ad ran in our September issue, we thought maybe 35 people would sign up, but we had hundreds of inquiries, so we had to rethink the event to include more people." – cbc.ca
Head over to cbc.ca for more of the coverage of this event where
Not surprisingly [Braden Scott, a doctoral student in art history at McGill, was one of the naked-night attendees], says the evening did feel erotic. "Everyone had their clothes off and we're looking at many photos of naked people, as well as photos depicting BDSM. It felt cruisey, but I also felt shy. It was a weird combination." – cbc.ca
My French is a little rusty, but I still enjoyed this video from Fuges.com as it shared a little more imagery of the event.
Hier, 13 octobre, en soirée, 85 personnes ont déambulé dans le Musée des beaux-arts de Montréal (MBAM) en tenues d’Ève et d’Adam. Elles ont pu découvrir l’exposition FOCUS : PERFECTION – ROBERT MAPPLETHORPE dans leur plus simple appareil, en compagnie de guides du Musée. À la suite de la publication d’une invitation dans le magazine Fugues, partenaire de l’évènement, les places disponibles se sont vendues en quelques jours seulement. Il s’agit de la première activité du genre à se tenir au MBAM. – youtube.com
Would you attend such an event?
Do you think this could happen in your country?
