Exit Through the Gift Shop July 18

Praised as “a sly satire of celebrity, consumerism, and the art world” by the Los Angeles Times, the Oscar-nominated documentary Exit Through the Gift Shop has been one of the year’s most talked-about films, capturing the notoriously elusive Bansky and other prominent street artists at work and in their own words.

At 8:30 p.m. Monday, July 18, the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum will host an outdoor screening of Exit Through the Gift Shop in the museum’s east parking lot. Popcorn will be provided, though viewers should bring their own seating. Rain location will be Steinberg Auditorium.

Preceding the screening, at 7 p.m., will be a gallery talk by curators Meredith Malone and Karen Butler. The talk is occasioned by the temporary closing of the museum’s permanent collection galleries, which will be reinstalled over the summer. Malone and Butler will lead a tour of the current installation, offering insights into works now on view as well as a sneak peek at plans for the new installation.

Bansky, who directs Exit Through the Gift Shop, describes it as “a film about a man who tried to make a film about me.” The story centers on Thierry Guetta (aka Mr. Brainwash), a French émigré living in Los Angeles, who attempts to capture the world of graffiti art by filming many of its best known practitioners — including his cousin, Space Invader, and Shepard Fairey, who created the iconic “Hope” poster for Barack Obama’s presidential campaign — as they scale buildings, avoid police and otherwise prowl for visual real estate.

But when Guetta attempts to turn his camera on the British-born Bansky, he finds it instead pointing back at himself — with spectacular and unpredictable results. Or, as Banksy quips, “It’s basically the story of how one man set out to film the un-filmable. And failed.”

Both the screening and gallery talk are free and open to the public. The Kemper Art Museum is located near the intersection of Skinker and Forsyth boulevards. Regular hours are 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays; 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Fridays; and 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays. The museum is closed Tuesdays.

For more information, call (314) 935-4523 or visit kemperartmuseum.wustl.edu.