There have been many ups and downs too the exhibition proposal but as I group I feel that we have really come together to overcome the challenges that are afflicting our exhibition. Going from making a quasi-gallery gift-shop, to the complete obliteration of this idea, not the challenges that face our group is how to make a comment on the effects of the museum, gift shop, without our exhibition just becoming as rehashing of a very often explored idea.
Despite all the changes that have been made to our idea, we are set that we want a corner space within the Cookhouse and we have been fortunate enough to be granted this space, longs ode only 2 other groups (of 4 members) that will hopefully allow us to capitalise on our gift-shop idea.
Proposed Exhibition Spaces:
left hand room: corner
left hand room: window panel on opposing side
far right room: concave segment – visible from the window
far right room: corner
Franks work form last year; an exploration of the (inner) self
Final Proposal presented to Lucy Gunning on Thursday;
Although she was interested in pour overall idea, she wasn’t too keen on the gallery shop aesthetic. She felt that it was a just a copy of the shop and makes no comments on how we feel about eh institution. From this she told us to look further at why are we interested in the gallery shop aesthetic and how to then present this in the end of term exhibition.
From this we have had numerous conversations about what it is that we are trying to do, and in my opinion I feel that thee needs to be a lack of physicality. Instead we need the engagement of the audience with the “work” asked them to question the validity of the gallery shop institution.
Some of my later comments on this are below; i think the key to the problem is the idealisation and physical manifestation of materiality
Proposed Exhibition Setting; (drawn by myself)
Comments on the Group-Chat; how to navigate our problems.
Confirming Our place within the exhibition
http://www.frieze.com/issue/article/how_has_art_changed/
How has art changed?
With the proliferation of museums, biennales and fairs, and the sheer amount of work now being made, shown, and sold, the art world has obviously changed substantially over the last 40 or so years. But what have been the most important shifts in art and the structures that surround it? frieze has asked 33 artists, collectors, critics, curators, educators and gallerists to respond.
Art has moved from margin to centre, with all the losses and gains that this entails.
https://news.artnet.com/market/are-art-fairs-good-for-galleries-or-killing-them-28920
Are Art Fairs Good for Galleries—Or Killing Them?
Attorney Richard Lehun talked about the fact that fairs tend to further complicate relationships that have always been fraught with idiosyncrasies. While praising the ease and efficiency of a fair, especially as it lets collectors “comparison shop,” he says they also have the power to erode relationships. They replace quiet discussions in the gallery while encouraging a herd mentality and the kind of impulse buying that can undercut more solid, long-term relationships between dealers and collectors. “The art fair piggybacks on the relationship while needing to undermine it, in fact,”
Are audiences killing art and culture?
- a disproportionate amount of our lives are spent producing and consuming commodities, and in Karl Marx’s words, this fetishism of commodities “converts every product into a social hieroglyphic.
- Our language of commodities, compounded with an ingeniously designed cycle of production and consumption, creates a world of hyper-consumerism complete with its own language and raison d’être: to consume.
- To break through the cycle of hyper-consumerism, one could, as Nicholas Bourriaud suggests, enter the art exhibition—“the arena of representational commerce,” which allows “inter-human commerce” that deviates from the social context of everyday consumerism.
- On the other hand, “edible artwork,” in the form of the art exhibition gift shop, can surpass boundaries of time and locale
- The average art exhibition viewer can leave the art exhibition gift shop with a physical object, an object that carries traces of the art and can cross over the exhibition threshold into everyday life. When created in an ironic or humorous way that subverts social context, souvenirs from the art exhibition gift shop serve as reminders of the consumerist superstructure.
- “edible artwork” becomes a space for relational aesthetics, defined by Bourriaud as “an art taking as its theoretical horizon the realm of human interactions and its social context.
Edible Artwork: Damien Hurst
- creating and monetizing a brand name
- Hirst takes production work into the realm of the gift shop, where images of “high art” are plastered on mass produced items, items that are “reassuring to an art audience that knows the chain stores and the suburban malls far better than the galleries and the museums.
- Hirst exhausts various marketing strategies: categorizing items as “New” or “Unique” in red letters, creating box sets, selling both signed and plain prints, selling prints as “prints” instead of “posters,” using free shipping to tempt buyers, offering t-shirts in four colors, and more.
- Hirst questions the value of authenticity. If authenticity is a handwritten signature on a print, then you can purchase a signed print for a couple thousand more dollars. If authenticity does not matter, simply purchase the plain print. Both are options on Other Criteria. Either way, the print will be packaged carefully and sent to your house.
Manifestation of Desire:
- context for closing the physical distance between viewer and “art.”
- plays two roles: that of a product consumer, and that of an art viewer
Conclusion: To Build a Gift Shop
For the “gift shop” to function as a form of relational aesthetics, it must contain “edible artworks” that can be purchased but that are “inedible” in the sense that the objects themselves subvert the values of consumerism under the guise of commodification; in other words, these objects should utilize elements of commodification to draw in consumers but simultaneously subvert and reveal mindless consumerism.
First, the edible artwork. These subverted objects should be plastered with the visual language of commodity, such as the succulent colors, high-polish finishes, and pleasing forms but these objects will only be accessible to a certain socioeconomic class. The more democratic choice would be to create a range in prices. In addition, the familiarity of items that can be readily mass-produced lulls the consumer into a false sense of purchasing confidence.
Next, these objects should be placed within a gift shop…utilize the gift shop as a space for relational aesthetics is to manifest desire—the gift shop should be outfitted as a familiar space of commerce, where people readily exhibit desire to possess and consumer. nd include items within the gift shop that cannot be purchased but elicit consumerist desires. These items can be items belonging to the museum or an anonymous collector—items intentionally placed above smaller versions of the real thing to cultivate desire. These items can also be showcase samples (that cannot be sold for reasons of quality control) of items that have sold out. Finally, create dissonance between appearances and content.
How will other people view this necklace outside the context of the art exhibition gift shop? When a consumer wears this “inedible edible artwork” to a Sunday brunch, people begin to talk and question value. The gift shop object is not only a “statement piece” about consumerism, but also a meaningful conversation starter about conscious consumption.
The point of the gift shop, after all, has never been to dissuade people from consumption. The language of commodities is entrenched in capitalist societies, shows no signs of receding, and people are actively cultivating self-expression and fluency in the language of commodity. As virtual reality bleeds into physical reality, consumption becomes easier and easier. One-click purchases, two-day deliveries, enhanced user experiences, and every other tech start-up works toward creating the ultimate, frictionless consumer experience. Edible artworks, with the outward appearance of commodity and subverted inner content, remind people of the inter-human interactions that can take place within the art exhibition—these gift shop souvenirs are reminders of the choice to not buy, or more realistically, the choice to buy consciously.