For our latest mission, we staged a gallery opening full of stolen artwork, invited in members of the public, and then had the “FBI” show up and seize everything in sight.

The paintings were exact replicas of the 13 priceless artworks stolen in the infamous Gardner Museum Heist. We told guests the art was “on loan” from a secretive billionaire. Of course the collector, curator, gallery staff, and even security were all our undercover actors.

This project won two Webby Awards, both the juried competition and the audience award.

Thanks to our collaborators, the filmmakers behind the new independent feature film Any Day Now, coming out May 5, across all digital on-demand platforms! Check out the film to dive deeper into the mystery of the art heist that inspired this stunt. Their support allowed us to produce this video so please take a moment to watch the trailer!

On March 18, 1990, thirteen works of art were stolen from Boston’s Isabella Stewart Gardener Museum. 35 years later, the case remains unsolved and the paintings have never been recovered. The theft, regarded as the largest property crime in history, continues to capture the world’s attention. We hatched a plan with filmmaker Eric Aronson to create replicas of the missing artworks and put them in gallery in New York City.

We rented out a high profile gallery in Chelsea for the show. On Thursday nights in Chelsea, all of the galleries stay open late and art fans gallery hop, creating the perfect built-in audience.

Our FBI actors rehearse taking the Rembrandt off the wall.

Putting the finishing touches on the replicas.

We opened the doors and pretty quickly had a line. An open bar with Rembrandts, Vermeers, and Manet’s on the wall is hard to pass by. We asked our security detail to “wand” all guests for extra intrigue.

We hired a string quartet to make the whole thing seem even more legit and add to the mood.

We got a range of reactions from gallery guests. Some people took it at face value and assumed the paintings were real. Others were skeptical. Everyone was interested in trying to figure out what was going on.

The mysterious art collector stayed in his glass office the whole night.

We set up a video village with remote controlled hidden cameras in the back room of the gallery.

When the gallery was at its most crowded, we sent in the “FBI.”

The FBI agents interrupted the curator’s speech and shut the show down.

When the FBI arrived, nearly every gallery guest took their phone out and started taking photos and videos. Before we could even load out, the project was going viral on TikTok and Instagram. Over the next few weeks, videos taken by gallery attendees received over 28MM views. The comment sections were wild, with people around the world debating whether or not the stunt was real.

There’s a $10,000,000 reward for the recovery of the missing artworks. I’m sorry to say our gallery didn’t have the real deal, but we hope one day they are found!

Thanks again to our collaborators, the filmmakers behind the new independent feature film Any Day Now. Watch the trailer!

Mission Accomplished

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