The exhibition examines the increased links between contemporary art and the international market. The power now exerted by the economy on political, social and cultural life has extended its hold on art production so that the whole system is undergoing a complete transformation in response to the demands of an increasingly global market. Contemporary art plays an ever more prominent role in our culture. Its economic power is reflected in the exorbitant prices now reached at international auctions and in the increased popularity of exhibitions, biennales, festivals, shows and mega-happenings.
In the last twenty years contemporary art has become a specialised industry with its own rules and a network of professional operators. Artists are drawn into the international dynamics of a highly competitive system. This places them in competition with artists from widely different backgrounds but demands they speak a global and commercial language. In recent years with the growing interest of collectors, galleries and institutions in the west it has become the ideal environment for speculators.
With pressing demands for the new and sensational, the process of production and commercialisation is speeded up but art is also increasingly drawn into mass culture and commerce.
The exhibition will feature the work of contemporary artists which throws light on the mechanisms of the international art system. The selection explores different points of view, ranging from complete conformity to the prevailing rules of the market to irony and sarcasm and even to an “anti-market” stance taken by those anxious to avoid the commercial aspects of the art market entirely. Artists, whose work may be included, are Luchezar Boyadjiev (Bulgaria), Marco Brambilla (I/USA), Marc Bijl (Netherlands), Fabio Cifariello Ciardi (Italy), Claude Closky (France), Denis Darzacq (France), Eva Grubinger (Austria), Pablo Helguera (Mexico), Damien Hirst (UK), Bethan Huws (UK), Christian Jankowski (Germany), Michael Landy (UK), Atelier van Lieshout (Netherlands), Thomas Locher (Germany), Aernout Mik (Netherlands), Takashi Murakami (Japan), Antoni Muntadas (Spain), Josh On (USA), Dan Perjovschi (Rumania), Wilfredo Prieto (Cuba) and Cesare Pietroiusti (Italy).