As arguments continue about whether the UK economy remains stagnant, is recovering, or is liable to return to recession, times remain tough for many people, especially in the arts. Appropriately, two recent events in Manchester focused on the vexed question of the relationship between artists and the very thing they are often short of: money.
Taking place at Cornerhouse, Share Market Share was the title of a ‘day of information, dissemination, and discussion’ about the contemporary art market, while the previous evening, at the Hewitt Street HQ of the Lionel Dobie Project, an evening of presentations and argument was given the straightforward moniker, ‘Art and Money… What’s the Problem?’.
Pilot project
Organised by International 3, in partnership with the Contemporary Art Society and with funding from Arts Council England, Share Market Share was the result of a set of experiments in which six participants – all up-and-coming art world professionals – were given money to ‘enter’ the art market.
“The project was a pilot,” International 3’s Co-Director, Paulette Terry Brien told me before the event. “If the feedback from the participants is strong, we might be able to have a second phase, or it might become a more permanent fixture in terms of what we do.” Those participants included Newcastle-based artist Susie Green, Manchester-based artist Maurice Carlin, Tony Charles, Director of Middlesbrough’s Platform A gallery, Katie Rutherford, Director of Untitled Gallery, Manchester, and Gill Park, Director of Pavilion, Leeds.
On the day, there was certainly a sense that participants had been offered a valuable, albeit slightly scary opportunity. “I wanted help navigating a murky world,” said Susie Green, whose practice can be categorised as existing in between art and fashion (and includes work on silk scarves). Green was able to build a valuable relationship with the collage-maker and performance artist Linder, who proved supportive and enthusiastic. When it came to selling his work, Maurice Carlin admitted that previously he “had no sense of how you would do that, or how the art market worked at all.” Share Market Share gave him the chance to work with the annual Manchester Contemporary art fair as well as several emerging London galleries, which were interestingly selective with feedback, telling him when they liked work but offering “no conversation about the work they didn’t like.”
Rather different experiences were revealed by the gallery representatives. Gill Park went to Brussels, where the contemporary art scene revolves almost entirely around privately-run art-spaces. Meeting French as well as Belgian gallery owners and agencies, she was able to explore the some of the tricky issues surrounding video art and recoupment contracts with artists. Sitting in the audience of 40 attendees, Stephen Snoddy, Director of the New Art Gallery, Walsall, commented in response that galleries should “word into any agreement with an artist that you own the first in an edition of five, and you place it in a public gallery. That way everyone wins.”
An afternoon of revolving breakout groups enabled attendees to discuss the market with all participants, during which time artist Rachel Goodyear (whose new show Artificial Night is currently running at International 3) talked about the benefits of working with a gallery that forms a relationship with an artist similar to that between “an indie record label and a band”. It’s worrying but unsurprising to reflect, as Mark Doyle of Contemporary Art Society reminded us, that some galleries treat art primarily as a commodity.
Mapping monetary minefields
Lionel Dobie Project describes itself as a ‘one year venture in support of emerging curators’, and provides a space for projects as well as opportunities to question the limits of curating. Its Art and Money event, spurred on by prints of Bob Dylan paintings going on sale in Manchester “for £4,100 a pop” while local artists struggle to live, brought together a disparate group of guests to map out contemporary art’s monetary minefields.
Artist Richard Shields gave an amusing talk on the links between the Medici, art education and banking. “They are,” he declared, “responsible for our art schools and our student debt.” And it was his student debt that generated some of his most interesting current work, including hand-illustrated cheques (now on sale at Contemporary 6 Gallery, Manchester), the latest instalment of his ongoing series of shows The Journey of the Artist and the Price of the Ticket.
Philosophy researcher Dr John Rowe talked about Derrida and Buddhism, reflecting on Mike Chavez-Dawson’s film the Specter of Derrida, also shown, and concluding that art is beyond money. Artist Jen Wu told a rollercoaster tale of trying to work with Salford City Council on her Chapel Street project, The Wall: “On Monday I thought it was off. Now today it’s back on.” And, finally, Castlefield Gallery’s Director, Kwong Lee, talked about the realities of showing new art in new spaces, and the development of a new “art ecology” in Manchester.
Doing art today may not for the faint-hearted, but it can be rewarding – though what sort of reward you’ll get remains debatable.
More on a-n.co.uk
Artists and the art market – a-n’s Director asks if we need to think about how art market growth could aid artists’ careers.
Practical guide on Gallery, dealer and agent agreements by Nicholas Sharp and Sheena Etches
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