Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/691761
JOSÉ PARLÁ: You've just finished the Pyramide du Louvre installation at Musée du Louvre—congratulations! It's quite an incredible project in itself along with the projections, concerts and ateliers you curated. You've also collaborated with many artists for this action. Please tell us how the project came about and what inspired it. JR: Thank you, my friend. The Louvre contacted me a year ago and we started working on the project right away. To be honest, I never imagined I would ever exhibit at the Louvre while I am alive. So one day I went there and observed the people interacting with the monument. Can you believe that people come from all over the world to turn their back to it and take a selfie? That's why I started thinking of making it disappear from the angle where everybody takes a selfie. It also raise the question of change, how afraid we always are when something appears or disappears. In 1989, when the pyramid was inaugurated, I was too young to remember but apparently there was a huge controversy. PARLÁ: Is there something else we can learn about your experience during the installation or presentation of the JR at the Louvre project that stands out in your memory? JR: The entire project! Installing the pyramid over weeks or even planning the 24-hour, non-stop [performance] was a real production to me and my team. I didn't wanted to have any partnership from any brand so we had to do it all with very little budget and every artist who came to participate in the performance did it almost for free. Arcade Fire did an amazing DJ set/concert in the Tuileries that we announced one hour prior, so it was a real surprise for everybody. Then I was on stage for six hours with artists I love, like Agnès Varda, Daniel Buren and Felice Varini, talking about art in public spaces. Later on that night, magicians took over the museum and people could wander in the empty museum interacting with them. At midnight, Nils Frahm and Olafur Arnalds did a six-hour concert for 1,000 people under the pyramid. At 6 a.m., chef Jean Imbert cooked in front of the Victoire de Samothrace and later, Chinese artist Liu Bolin made me disappear in front of the pyramid to close out the performance. An unexpected twist was when the camera broke, so we had to redo the performance, including me being repainted entirely! PARLÁ: The Wrinkles of the City, Istanbul was just directed by your friend Guillaume Cagniard. Please tell us about your continuous conversation with Istanbul, especially within the context of the secularization after 1924. JR: Istanbul was such a journey for me, almost as complicated as the project we did together in Cuba. They never gave us the authorization to do the work, so I had to go guerilla style with the help of local communities. Later on, the police repainted one of the pieces and one of my friends got arrested after we left, and I had to pay some fine. So I decided to post something on social media and showed what the police painted over. In a few hours it became so viral that the city wrote us to say they were cancelling all the fines and even wanted to invite me again to repaste it. I never went back as they wanted me to do a press conference with them. PARLÁ: What are the different ways in which your art is changing the world? JR: If I ever have the potential to change the world it would be in changing the perception we have of the world. And for me that's change. PARLÁ: You have a lot of energy and many ideas. Were you always like this as a child, and can you please share with us how you first became interested in making art? JR: I don't remember how it started. Maybe I was doing graffiti and running all over the city trying to find the best angles to look at it differently than everyone else. It's only later that I realized that people could call it art. As you know very well, for a long time it was called vandalism. At first it was just the way to channel my energy, but later on it became my full-time job! PARLÁ: You've done very interesting and fascinating projects throughout the world. What has been your favorite? JR: I don't think I have a favorite project, but what I do enjoy the most is traveling around the world with my friends and team and getting to know communities by working with them. 178 culturedmag.com "If I ever have the potential to change the world it would be in changing the perception we have of the world. And for me, that's change."