What’s next? “Sex and the City” at the Louvre?

Museum directors in France are courting celebrity chic, promoting Pop Art in some of the art world’s most conservative venues, like the Louvre and Versailles. Though it’s unlikely that efforts to spice up these bastions of French orthodoxy will leave more than a small scratch on their stuffy walls, it’s a welcome scuff mark nonetheless.

Joseph Kosuth, "ni apparence ni illusion" © Musée du Louvre/Antoine Mongodin

At the Louvre, contemporary artist Joseph Kosuth is the latest to bring a touch of l’air du temps to its hallowed halls. After Jan Fabre’s intervention amongst the Northern paintings last year, Kosuth has chosen the medieval foundations of the museum for his installation of neon signs. Fifteen verbal meditations are installed against the dimly lit Louvre walls, giving off a slightly eery light (especially in the quieter crypt). The title of the exhibition, ni apparence ni illusion (neither appearance nor illusion), is a Nietzsche quote. Unusually for Kosuth, who likes to quote literary and philosophical sources, the rest of the words in the exhibition are of his own composition, and invite the visitor to reflect on the ancient foundations of the place and question their relationship to history and archaeology.

One of Kosuth’s phrases reads, “The stones of the wall are signed, and yet each one remains anonymous.” This may be true of the Louvre, but it’s no longer the situation at Vaux le Vicomte, the chateau whose grandiose gardens inspired Versailles. In the gift shop, there is a glass case displaying signed photos of Eva Longoria, Nicolette Sheridan and the rest of the cast of “Desperate Housewives”. These grinning snapshots are completely incongruous with the rest of the chateau, which is otherwise commited to conservation and historical accuracy. Nicolette and company took part in a beefed up version of the “have your name on a grain of rice” offer, where guests sponsor individual roof tiles for the chateau, when they were on site for the lavish wedding of Eve Longoria and French basketball hero Tony Parker in 2007.

Vaux le Vicomte. Source: Wikimedia Commons

Of course, a big shot contemporary artist enjoying a cameo at the Louvre is not quite as grave as a cheap-looking display of celeb-signed photos at a famous chateau. But what, in both cases, are these museum directors trying to achieve here? Are they trying to attract a younger, celebrity-savvy audience? Joseph Kosuth undoubtedly lacks the mass appeal of a hit TV series, but his name, nevertheless, can still lure an alternative crowd to the Louvre.

If grabbing attention is indeed the gameplan, then the approach is garnering a certain amount of success—the Jeff Koons show at Versailles last year provoked a bilious response from some. Notable was an open letter to the President from one Prince Charles-Emmanuel de Bourbon-Parme, descendant of the Bourbon Kings and Louis XIV himself. De Bourbon-Parme denounced the show for being disrespectful and “pornographic” and demanded its early closure.

Balloon Dog, by Jeff Koons. Photo by Jean-Piere Dalbera

Other commentators complained that the show merely cast light on the new royalty—France’s cultural elite. On one incestuous billboard, it united François Pinault, entrepreneur, richest man in France and notable Koons’s collector, with Jean-Jacques Aillagon, the new director of Versailles and ex-advisor to Pinault and to Koons. (Though perhaps Koons is, conceptually at least, not terribly out of place at Versailles, given its history of riches, power and excess.) And last but not least, add to these grievances the tourists, who didn’t want to spend their once-in-a-lifetime visit to Versailles looking at Koons’ inflatable dogs and self aggrandizing self-portraits.

Koons, as is his want (see his “Made in Heaven”, currently on show as part of Tate Modern’s controversial Pop Life exhibition), was a sensation at Versailles.  The current guest artist on display,  however, Xavier Veilhan, favors a more subtle approach. Veilhan’s works, like Kosuth’s, are specifically designed for the space they inhabit, and are much less intrusive than the Koons retrospective. Veilhan’s predominantly sculptural works include a contemporary take on a horse-drawn carriage, a monumental hanging mobile and statues dedicated to his architectural heroes dotted around the gardens of Versailles.

Mobile, by Xavier Veilhan

Will such contemporary cultural figures manage to muscle their way into established French art and heritage institutions? The answer is probably not. Just as the cast of Desperate Housewives looked small and out of place in their signed photos, Joseph Kosuth and Xavier Veilhan’s installations are dwarfed by the immensity of their locations.

But these contemporary showings are no flop, either. Certainly the Louvre, which attracted 8.5 million visitors in 2008, and Versailles, where visitors stand in line for hours, don’t need to dabble in contemporary art to secure their place on the tourist map. So perhaps they should be commended for their commitment to the new. Their efforts won’t necessarily elevate contemporary artists to the level of da Vinci and Le Nôtre, but a least they can keep museums from becoming mausoleums of past acheivements.

Next up at Versailles is Japanese artist Takashi Murakami, whose—sometimes obscene—manga-pop aesthetic may prove even harder to fit into Versailles, both aesthetically and conceptually. This next installment of contemporary mayhem is going to keep the museum and the public on their toes.

Ni apparence ni illusion is on in the Sully Wing of the Louvre until 06/21/2010
Xavier Veilhan is exhibiting at the Chateau de Versailles until 12/13/2009
Jeff Koons is on show in Pop Life at Tate Modern until 01/17/2010
Takashi Murakami will be on show in Versailles in 2010