Larger-than-life art installation hops into Memphis this January

The past spring, you might have caught the Red Ball Project rolling in and out of Memphis after dotting several Memphis landmarks. This January, five illuminated rabbits will take its place as the next public art piece in the Brooks Museum of Art’s Brooks Outside series.
 
Intrude, by Australian artist Amanda Parer, will be on view on the Brooks’ Overton Park grounds January 18 through 29, beginning with a reception free to members. This part of a global trek for the bunnies spanning four continents and over fifty cities.
 
Parer’s exhibition was created in 2014 and was discovered by Brooks’ staff 18 months ago while researching public art installations for Brooks Outside.

Associate curator, Andria Lisle, calls the exhibit series “a new model for public engagement that both reflects and builds on the Brooks’ unique identity as the oldest and only encyclopedic art museum in the region.” 
 
Lisle said RedBall Memphis activated various sites around town, Intrude provides viewers with the opportunity to experiment with their own environment in Overton Park. 
 
The Brooks will present programming alongside the free, outdoor exhibit to promote interaction between exhibition visitors. Planned programs include a film series that will provide context for the piece through films such as Harvey and Night of the Lepus.
 
“I’m over-the-moon excited at this opportunity to transform the space outside the museum with such a fun, yet thought-provoking exhibition,” said Lisle.
 
“The sense we’ve gotten from other institutions who have hosted Intrude is that these five rabbits, some nearly 24-feet tall, create the ultimate spectacle.
My hope is that that this installation will have a profound effect on not just the museum grounds, but the lives of all who come to experience it. Whether they laugh or play, or tap into Parer’s message about environmental issues, I want them to interact with the work, with the museum and with each other.”