Well, tonight is the night. We sold more than our target of 25 tickets, the sun is shining, the work is ready, the venue has changed (we got double booked) and is now in the City Screen bar,(which is much more fun). Below is our manifesto:
In recent years, inflamed by uninformed and sensational media coverage, contemporary art has often been viewed by the public with a mixture of bafflement and scorn. Working on the premise that society needs art and art needs society, Please Do Not Bend attempts to build bridges between artist and audience by curating initiatives that rely wholly on trust between those factions.
Art is presented to the audience concealed, wrapped in brown paper or placed inside manila envelopes. The audience is then invited to become owner, by buying a piece of work unseen. This radical initiative succeeds only if there is an understanding of trust on both sides, with the artists involved undertaking to offering honest, committed work, and the buyers trusting that commitment.
The exchange does not go beyond that; where the work stands in the wider political, artistic or intellectual field is not the issue.
The women and men who have bought tickets and supported this event tonight, have through this action, affirmed that there is an inherent trust there, a desire to be surprised, pleasured, challenged and excited by contemporary art. Because of the reassurance of trust from the buyer, the artist is then free to offer up work that is an honest expression of her/his practice, and which, despite the exchange of cash for goods, is always a gift, a communication of human to human.
For those of you who did'nt make it to this event...WE WILL BE BACK
No comments:
Post a Comment