Art For Sale!
Intervention project with the "9th Baltic Triennial of International Art: Black Market"
Contemporary Art Center/Lithuania and ICA/London. 9/24/05 - 10/8/05
Through genuine 'black market' back door operations, I sneaked into the CAC and took photographs of a number of two-dimensional works (most of them already using appropriated images) and reproduced these images in high fidelity. Then I put them in my own “Solo Show” in a commercial gallery nearby. I reconfigured these images in ways different than in the CAC. These works were labeled for sale explicitly at a low price (at cost). As a piece was sold, it was taken off the wall and a new reproduction copy filled in the space.
Later on, I was officially invited by the curators of the Triennial to show these reproductions as part of their exhibition at their second site in the ICA in London. In this iteration of the exhibition, I reconfigured all of the reproductions as plain multiple posters and lined them up on the walls.
The main site for the Baltic Triennial: CAC/Vilnius.
The only ‘original’ work I created for this project was the postcard/poster that announced my own show. I put these images next to the official Triennial advertisements wherever I could find them, including in newspapers.
The back of the postcard I designed
The front of the postcard
The CAC. I put my posters right underneath the official banner. They stayed there for the entire duration of the official Triennial.
My ‘Solo Show’ at Artima Gallery
With the works that I reproduced from the official Triennial, I reconfigured them for a ‘Solo Show’ in a local gallery near the CAC. The tag next to each piece lists the price at cost.
A photographic reproduction on matte paper of a large drawing. It fills the wall.
Curatorial Statement by Terri Cohn, and the first piece reconfigured with multiples
Pieces in the second room of the gallery
Descendant to the gallery downstairs
The show in ICA/London
After the curators of the official Triennial got to know about my project, they officially invited me to show them at their second site in ICA/London. For half of the space on the ground floor of the ICA, I lined up the walls with all the reproductions that I had made from the works in CAC. The space was dimly lit because the other half of the space was used to show film works from the Triennial. I just lit the corner of my half, and the works were put together as multiples of each image, in a fashion of a poster shop, to give it a ‘black market’ effect. They were offered for sale at cost. I actually sold some pieces, which in my mind contradicts the tradition that museums don’t sell art.
Installation view in ICA
Sale in transaction