.ART

In a move aimed to attract attention to Beyeler’s ongoing Picasso exhibition titled The Young Picasso: Blue and Rose Periods, the museum will be loaning Picasso’s “Bust of Woman with Hat (Dora)” for a 24-hour period beginning on April 16.

To apply for the singular opportunity, hopefuls must submit an online statement detailing how they would spend their Picasso-filled day, from staging the painting to planning an event around its temporary presence. The application form is only available in French, German and Italian, and your address has to be in Switzerland. Time to revisit those Erasmus connections, perhaps?

Thieves beware: the painting will come with a state-of-the-art security frame provided by telecommunications company Swisscom, a museum expert to make sure it’s properly hung, and a film crew to preserve the occasion for eternity.

Interested parties will be able to view and vote for submissions between April 2 and 7. The 20 applications that receive the most votes will be placed on a shortlist and assessed by a panel of Beyeler and Swisscom employees; the final winner will be announced on April 10.

“We want to make art accessible to a wide audience and bring people who do not often visit museums closer to this world,” explains Sam Keller, museum’s director. What if that is the future? If art could be loaned in a scheme similar to that of a Netflix subscription, wouldn’t it be a lot more accessible? Not only would it democratize currently elitist art collectors club, it would also increase the volume of financial streams in the art market and bring a flow of sustainable profits to living artists and curators.