Brooklyn Artists Ball from GuyManly on Vimeo.

Paul Outlaw proclaims, “who puts us in a museum?” in the video that promotes the Brooklyn Museum’s annual Brooklyn Artists Ball, which is tonight! If you are familiar with his and partner Jennifer Catron‘s artwork, you might say maybe he’s right. Over the past few years the two have dipped themselves in gold, created an ostentatious food truck that served live crawfish, and have hosted a dinner with live chickens as part of their performances.

Last week I visited their studio while they were frantically preparing for their newest installation/performance piece for the Brooklyn Artists Ball and they gave me some insight into what they were preparing for the privileged couple hundred guests that will be attending the event. As part of a group of twenty artists that will be featured at the museum that night, Outlaw and Catron will be performing a piece that investigates exclusivity and celebrity – they will be hosting their own exclusive dinner on top of the dinner tables. The structure that they were preparing during our interview will be placed on top of the dinner table, offering an even further feeling of exclusivity in an already privileged event. The two will feast on a decadent feast and will even have their own personal entertainment, all the while wearing giant heads and flamboyant clothes. “We want everybody to see us”, Outlaw says. By making themselves clearly visible to everybody at the event, they are investigating the theme of celebrity, one of which is not unknown to the art world.