Musée Légitime

A museum inside a hat.

Musée Légitime is a museum that was born inside a hat. It was initiated by the artist Martín La Roche in 2017.

"The idea of making a museum in a hat goes back to 2016, during a stay in Cali at Lugar a Dudas, invited by Calipso Press. I was trying to solve a quick crossword from The Guardian Newspaper ( NR. 13.692) using books from the library, and one of the hints, Across No. 12: “Stern area of a naval vessel, reserved for officers”, led me accidentally to a book describing Robert Filliou’s Galerie Légitime (1962–63), a gallery housed inside a hat. I thought that the short description on page 459 was incomplete: it emphasized the conceptual explanation of the work while leaving its practical reality blurred. How exactly did he do it? How did he place the works inside his cap? How did he show the contents of the gallery, and to whom? How many objects did he carry? Did he change them after every presentation? This gap between theory and lived activation made me curious.

A year later, I was invited to present work in Belgrade (U10 Art Space), and I decided to re-enact Filliou’s gallery but with a distortion: I was not going to become a gallerist, but a director and mediator who would carry, conserve and narrate the works of a museum inside a hat. I chose a bowler hat that fitted me, invited friends to contribute small or immaterial pieces, and arrived at the opening still unsure of how the work would function. I followed my instinct, I approached visitors, announced that I was carrying a museum, then removed the hat and began presenting the works one by one, telling their stories.

That day, to my surprise, someone in the audience began to cry, making me reconsider the importance of what I was talking about. Three new works were also offered to the collection by three different artists. I was particularly struck by the words written on one of them: we must. What began as a one time performance became an ongoing commitment. From that point on, the Musée Légitime expanded into a living institution: a museum dependent on the carrier’s body, memory, and daily movement. I started wearing it outside of art contexts as well, activating it both through scheduled, announced gatherings and through spontaneous encounters in everyday life."

To learn more about the collection and the museum buildings, to arrange a visit or to support the institution and become a member, please visit the other sections of this website.

This online catalogue of Musée Légitime was developed through a collaboration between Martín La Roche, Dongyoung Lee (design), and Ezekiel Aquino (web programming). KIOSK provided conceptual, material and logistical support for its development. The project has also been supported by the Mondriaan Fonds.

Special thanks to KIOSK director, Simon Delobel, for his continuous encouragement in the process. We also wish to thank designer Astrid Seme for her early support in thinking through the website and thanks to Marietta Dirker and the Rijksakademie library for their support in scanning the collection of Musée Légitime.