The “Michael Jackson: On The Wall” Exhibition just closed in Paris on Valentine’s day (14/02/2019) and will now be packed away to be re-housed in Bonn, Germany.
Paris has seen some ups and downs. The over-feeling of the Exhibition was not as well received by the general public and the fans alike in general compared to London despite a larger amount of visitors.
Few reasons, first of all, most of Saturdays’s shows were cancelled due to the French Protests in the capital (Yellow Vests) and the Grand Palais had to close their doors for security and safety reasons. Week-ends are a great value for influx of visitors for any museums and unfortunately for Paris and the Grand Palais, the amount of visitors has dropped dramatically every week-ends since the beginning of the protests.
Another reason for the low numbers and negative reviews was the fact that the Exhibition was not as well-set as London. For example, the Dangerous Album cover painting was a huge and important piece in London and had its own wall. Paris had it in a corner. The U-shaped setting of the exhibition at the Grand Palais felt more as a money-making-machine where visitors pushed themselves out of the doors as soon as they entered. London had a more “Home” feeling with visitors wandering around and getting lost in rooms full of Michael Jackson’s arts. The National Portrait Gallery has clearly done their research on the fans and the Exhibition had a “Michael Jackson” vibe which Paris lacked of!
Paris had also new additions but more “avant-garde” visual/video pieces which for some of them were branded as “weird” by the viewers. Their will to be more artistic has failed them.
Weirdly, the reviews of the French public including French fans, were not as good compared to the UK visitors despite most of the exhibits being the same. Is it a cultural difference between Paris and London? Do British people appreciate contemporary art more than the French? Who knows!
Not to mention the gift-shop. The National Portrait Gallery has put a lot of efforts into creating Official Exhibition Merchandise that the fans and the general public will enjoy as well as Museum goers! The setting was perfect and well designed. Paris was more a “sell-it all” setting with offensive books, items that has nothing to do with Michael Jackson or the Exhibition. Thanks to the London’s Exhibition, they had left overs from London. Few new items were created but not as much as London.
In terms of promotion, “Michael Jackson: On The Wall” was everywhere in London: Buses, Stations, street signs, flyers… While in Paris, we so only few posters in few stations and some signs in the streets. However, France had few big magazines covering the events which was not the case in London.
We are hoping that Bonn will learn from Paris mistakes and also that the “Leaving Neverland” TV show will not affect the influx of visitors.
The numbers are in!
National Portrait Gallery – London, UK: 82,525 visitors
Grand Palais – Paris, France: 156,307 visitors
Grand Total: 238,832 visitors
Next:
Bundeskunsthalle (Bonn, Germany)
22 March – 14 July 2019
Espoo Museum of Modern Art (EMMA) (Espoo, Finland)
21 August 2019 – 26 January 2020
