Couple In Lockdown Creates Tiny Art Museum For Their Gerbils

The coronavirus pandemic has changed lifestyles around the world in more ways than one. Since many countries have imposed lockdowns to contain the spread of the virus, a number of people find themselves with more time on their hands than they know what to do with. This, in turn, has led to a steady stream of viral content - elaborate projects, funny videos made out of boredom, bizarre experiments and more. The latest addition to this delightful trend is a UK couple's ambitious project to create a tiny art museum for their pet gerbils. 

Filippo Lorenzin, an employee of London's Victoria and Albert Museum, teamed up with partner Marianna Benetti to design an impressive to-scale art gallery for their two gerbils. Mr Lorenzin shared photos of the art museum and its tiny guests on social media, where they have gone viral.

According to The Art Newspaper, the gerbil gallery comes complete with reworked, rodent-themed masterpieces (including 'Gerbil with a Pearl Earring' and 'Monna Lisa'), wall labels with QR codes and even a sign requesting guests to not chew the artwork. 

Pandoro and Tiramisu explore the art museum. 

More coming soon pic.twitter.com/rEVhr0Ssy1

— Filippo Lorenzin (@fi_lor) April 5, 2020

Either Pandoro or Tiramisu admires an artwork. 

pic.twitter.com/Y7iXYQuncz

— Filippo Lorenzin (@fi_lor) April 5, 2020

A closer look at the masterpieces on display.

The paintings in detail, only for real art connoisseurs. Monna Lisa and The Scream by me and the best ones, "Gerbil with a Pearl Earring" and "The Kiss", by my better half @maryluna89 pic.twitter.com/RBhhDbTgdS

— Filippo Lorenzin (@fi_lor) April 6, 2020

Watch the gerbils explore the museum:

As promised, this is the full video of our gerbils visiting the museum. No gerbils or gallery assistants were harmed in the making of this. from r/aww

Pics and videos of the tiny art gallery have left social media users impressed, collecting thousands of 'likes' and 'retweets'.

"Awesome project!! Love the details," wrote one Twitter user. "I love that they respected the 'please do not chew the art' sign and went for the chair," said another. 

"It was fun to play around with the white cube aesthetics and the raw energy of our gerbils," said Filippo Lorenzin to The Art Newspaper.  "We hope this will make people who are stuck at home recall good memories in museums and encourage them to support institutions in such uncertain times."