Step one: Come up with an art project that involves crashing in architectural landmarks for an extended period of time.
Step two: apply for fellowships and funding at all the relevant foundations you can think of.
Step three: wait for responses, and follow up multiple times (most foundations won't be super keen on letting artists run amok in the masterworks they are duty-bound to safeguard.)
Sounds like a great plan, but sorry, it probably isn't going to work because the Italian artist Cristian Chironi already had this genius idea, and now he's spending the entire year in 30 different Le Corbusier buildings in 12 countries for his project "My House is a Le Corbusier."
Tip for aspiring funding applicants: this is the sort of language that works. "'My House is a Le Corbusier' is intended to evolve over the long term and culminate in the totality of all the experiences that Chironi will undergo while actually living for variable periods of time in the many homes designed by Le Corbusier around the world," the artist's website notes. Translation: he will be inviting others into his pedigreed crash pads to "discuss and see the artist at work, partake in events, consult the assembled material or simply drink a coffee."
The first stop on Chironi's whirlwind Le Corbusier tour, which was just featured in Architectural Digest, was the Esprit Nouveau Pavilion in Bologna, where he spent three weeks in January working and interacting with visitors. The Esprit Nouveau Pavillion was originally built in Paris in 1925, but was reproduced in Italy in 1977, and became a cultural center a few years ago. Three weeks is more than enough time to have a big party, and indeed, the last night of Chironi's stay there saw a live music performance inspired by the building's architectural plans. His next stop is a studio apartment inside the glass-and-concrete Immeuble Molitor building in Paris.
According to the artist's website, "Chironi turns these houses into 'privileged vantage points' to better understand how the legacy of Le Corbusier is perceived today." He views the whole project as a year-long performance; we view it as the world's most ingenious idea for living in architectural landmarks.
· Cristian Chironi Begins His Project "My House is a Le Corbusier" [Architectural Digest]
· All Le Corbusier coverage [Curbed National]