In May, in view of the Paris Olympic Games, the world’s largest art museum offered Run to the Louvre. These “sports visits” signed by the choreographer Mehdi Kerkouche have been widely covered by the media. Which allowed Monica Bill Barnes’ New York company to discover that they have many similarities with The Museum Workoutcreated at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Met, in 2017. In the arts, ideas travel, borrow from each other. They are sometimes born in different places at the same time; they imitate and plagiarize each other. The limits of these navigations are often blurred. Reflection.
It was when he received an email from a friend congratulating him on playing at the famous Louvre that Robbie Saenz de Vitteri, co-director of Monica Bill Barnes & Company, learned of the existence of Run to the Louvre.
While reading the New York Times, The New Obs And Le Figarothis “writer for dance” discovered the Parisian project. “The visit is done in four sequences with their own discipline,” reports the journalist Ariane Bavelier. “Disco in the Salle des Cariatides, cardio in front of the wall of the medieval Louvre, dancehall in the Khorsabad courtyard, and yoga in the Marly courtyard.”
“A master of ceremonies teaches steps that, end to end, form a dance. You get your shirt wet, the body is freed, the mind too. The empty Louvre is a privilege that must be earned,” she continues.
“Yoga under the glass roof at the foot of the Horses of Marly leaves no doubt about the existence of an entrance to nirvana. The beauty of the thing is not only that of a start to the day among masterpieces. It is due to this curious mixture of adrenaline and endorphins, born jointly from the practice of sport and the contemplation of beauty, which changes our outlook”, concludes the review.
“It’s like being imitated, but by a parrot…” Mr. Saenz de Vitteri said in a vigorous post on the company’s blog. Because this curious mixture that the critics are talking about had already been thought of, presented, signed, criticized and filmed. In 2017, at the invitation of the Met, Monica Bill Barnes & Company, which seeks to “show dance where it is not expected,” proposed, instead of the requested show, The Museum Workout.
In lamé dresses and running shoes, Mme Bill Barnes and Anna Bass led a group of visitors in sportswear, water bottles in hand, at a trot. A stop to make squats in front of the bust of Benjamin Franklin by Houdon. Another for lungsto work the quadriceps well, in front Mrs. Xby Sargent.
To finish? A sweet shavasanathat relaxing “corpse pose” that ends yoga workouts, performed, well, well, under a glass ceiling.
“We are not saying that it is plagiarism,” repeats Mr. Saenz de Vitteri. “We spoke with a lawyer, who believes that, legally, we would have little chance.”
Evacuate the art
Invited by The duty In considering the questions raised by the similarities between the works, the Louvre declined interview requests “because of the summer holidays.”
“ Run to the Louvre “is an extension of the yoga sessions in front of the works that the Louvre has been offering for many years,” replied Marion Benaiteau, from the press service. “The Louvre Museum asked choreographer Mehdi Kerkouche to design a tailor-made program around the exhibition Olympism. A modern invention, an ancient heritage “, continues the press officer.
“ Run to the Louvre therefore has in common with the Museum Workout of the Met the idea of doing sports in a museum — it’s an idea that many museums and cultural places have already been interested in, like currently the museums of the City of Paris with the Cultural and Sports Walks. It’s a very interesting way to attract new audiences to the museum,” concludes Mme Benaiteau, evacuating all the artistic work thought out and done by the New York company.
Choreographer Mehdi Kerkouche did not respond to requests from Duty nor other media outlets that have looked into this issue.
Little or a lot of public money
“We’ve been informed about the Louvre project for six or seven weeks,” Robbie Saenz de Vitteri said in a telephone interview. “I wanted to think before I wrote, not just vent my anger on the Internet.”
What shocked the American company? That the Louvre first contacted the Metropolitan Museum of Art to inquire about the ins and outs of the performance, without ever reaching out to the original artists to see what could be done or how.
Because The Museum Workout has been remade more than 80 times in the United States, as well as in Australia and Florence, Italy. The work has left behind a long trail of articles, reviews, photos. Even the magazine Vogue immortalized it — he also did it for his Parisian imitation, ironically.
Furthermore, the number of details that overlap between the two versions, which Americans counted when reading the review of the New York Timeshits them: it’s the same music, Don’t Stop Till You Get Enoughby Michael Jackson, which launches the visit to Paris and Melbourne. Same borrowings from disco gestures, same ending shavasana under glass ceiling.
What angers New York artists the most is the different responsibilities and powers that play out behind the scenes here. “The Louvre is not in the business of producing or commissioning works,” says Robbie Saenz de Vitteri. “It’s a major, international, conservation institution. And you would expect its practices, in terms of copyright, inspiration, and citations, to be exemplary.”
The question of the bidous also arises: “They have incredible budgets. For us, doing tours, shows, it’s our way of earning our living, of paying the rent.” In 2022, the Louvre declared 248 million euros as its total operating income, including ticket revenues of 58 million euros. “We are a very small company. Only Monica and I are employees, all the other artists are freelance. And you know, things are really not going well in arts funding these days in the United States…”
Exactly how does Monica Bill Barnes & Company finance itself? At a rough guess, “30% to 35% from foundations and governments, 35% from private donations, 30% to 35% from independent income, shows and tours. I know my total doesn’t work, but it looks like this, with games here and there.”
“That’s why it’s so important for us to bring our name back into this conversation: for us, it’s by playing, by touring, by doing new projects that we pay our rent. The Louvre’s means are infinitely superior.”