![]() #1 | #2 | IFFR#33 | #3 | #4 | #5 | #6 Munchen | #7 | #8 | #9 | #10 The Interviews | #11 | #12 Berlin | #13 Dresden | #14 | #15 | #16 Copenhagen export | #17 IFFR | #18 Riga-web radio | #19 Models for Conceptual Art | #20 The Swiss Issue | #21 aktie-editie | #22 Rotterdam Art Map1 | Traveling the World | send us an email Editorial Our Swiss Issue is a field study on art and the art market. It has been made at the introduction of the Kunsthaus Zurich for the exhibition Shifting Identities. It has been some six months in gestation and has involved the efforts of approximately fifty people. We spent four months on fieldwork and collecting material, and two months organising and processing it. We have compiled the magazine as if it were a documentary film: with portraits, various voices and images.There is an Export edition and a Domestic edition, the latter of which is distinguished by its double cover and can be used as an entry ticket for the Kunsthaus Zurich. During the four months of our residency at BINZ39 in Zurich we interviewed artists, designers, curators and collectors about art and the market. We asked seven writers for critical reflections on the art world and its existing model. We also asked artists for visual and textual contributions. Before this issue we had never conducted an in-depth investigation into how the art market works. Apparently that was unnecessary, but in Switzerland the market cannot be ignored. ‘shoot like an amateur, edit like a pro’ The conversations were recorded with an M-Audio Microtrack 24/96, and lasted on average one hour and forty-five minutes. We have transcribed, or commissioned transcriptions, of all the conversations. Our aim is to deliver a ‘readable’ text; as always we have focussed on the main thrust of the conversation, and have retained as many original formulations as possible. Interpretation is unavoidable, but in all cases we have attempted to remain as faithful as possible to the conversations. After the initial edit we gave our interviewees the opportunity to adapt their tone and to formulate their intentions more precisely. The resulting texts are thus dialogues and the outcome of a collaborative effort. We like what the documentary filmmakers Thomas Imbach and Jürg Hassler say: ‘Forget planning hanging around is creative’. We like to add drinking wine at openings and invited to collectors dinners can be productive. Many of our encounters happened by chance, and all the conversations are intuitive and relatively informal. They are not interviews based upon a questionnaire. We have attempted to understand how the system behind art works, and have looked critically at the role of the market. We have quickly come to understand that the market is effective for only approximately 3 to 5 per cent of artists. But how do you decide who will make it to the top? Nobody is really willing to make a declaration about quality, and many leave this distinction to market forces. It was for this reason that we felt it necessary to look for an other model, a possible alternative way. We had one question that we wished to pose to everyone: do you think the current hierarchical model works? And this usually led to a second question: is it possible to conceive another model? We received very divergent answers. Rein Wolfs states: ‘There is no art without a market’, Oliver Kielmayer says that the market works fine, but also that there are two systems that operate independently of one another. Anders Petterson talks about a new breed of art investors: Art Angels, a hybrid of traditional collector, patron and shrewd investor. Frank Hyde-Antwi says: ‘There is no reason why you should accept the existing model’ and came up with an alternative model that makes room for more than the 3 per cent whom the market serves. And Henry Levy says that artists cannot survive at all without the help of patrons, collectors etc. Karen Wright describes a business-like managerial approach to art that is a far cry from the romantic vision of the artist. ‘The true artist helps the world by revealing mystic truths.’ In the final pages of her book Hype! Kunst und Markt, Piroschka Dossi uses this quote from Bruce Nauman as an introduction to take the whole matter to a further level, stating: ‘But the art market today sends out another message as well, with the phenomena of speculation and hype taking their toll in the larger context of global social upheaval. The growing gap in prices, the erosion of the centre and the concentration of the market on only a few winners pinpoint a development, as if through a magnifying glass, that may well become a hotspot in the years ahead: the escalation of inequality in our society.’ ^Rob Hamelijnck & Nienke Terpsma, editors of Fucking Good Art May 2008 Colofon Fucking Good Art Rotterdam Editors Rob Hamelijnck en Nienke Terpsma Typography Nienke Terpsma Print De Boog, Rotterdam Paper La Gazetta dello Sport Webdesign catalogtree.net First issue December 2003 Editorial studio Calandstraat 3b, 3016 CA Rotterdam Reactions and contributions mail[at]fuckinggoodart.nl Fucking Good Art is a printed and online fanzine that serves as a portal and resource for the contemporary art community. We collect and generate content including critical writing, interviews, reviews, observations, and news. Special editions (in other European cities): 2004 - München edition 2005 - The Interviews - pocket book, 140 pages Dutch/Eng. 2006 - International edition / Berlin - pocket book, 160 pages German/Eng. 2006 - Dresden edition 2007 - Kopenhagen edition 2007 - Riga web-radio edition 2008 - The Swiss Issue - pocket book, 280 pages English/German. |
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