Perrotin Organizes Art Treasure Hunt at Grand Palais

French gallerist Emmanuel Perrotin is organizing a treasure hunt at the Grand Palais in Paris on October 24-25, 2020, where visitors can find and take home artworks by 20 gallery artists. The event, titled WANTED!, takes place in the empty nave of the historic exhibition hall, which will close next year for restoration. Twenty works by artists including Takashi Murakami, Daniel Arsham, JR, Elmgreen & Dragset, and others are hidden throughout the space. Visitors must book a 50-minute session, with a maximum of 500 people per time slot, and follow COVID-19 protocols. Perrotin described the idea as "unorthodox" and thanked his team and artists for participating. The concept was inspired by a 2016 work by Elmgreen & Dragset, who installed a sculptural fair booth in the same nave before FIAC. Chris Dercon, president of RMN-Grand Palais, noted that such experiments are part of avant-garde art history and that the value of the works depends on the visitors' engagement.