The art world tends to be exclusive by design, but a gallery
founder and a curator in NYC decided to team up and do the most
inclusive thing they could think of by offering to display any
work sent their way in the ultimate “open call” for artists.
The exhibition, dubbed Et Tu, Art
Brute? specified only one criteria: artworks had to
be 12 by 20 inches or smaller in order, to avoid complicated
shipping problems and ensure enough space would be available to
put up all the pieces.
Curator Jamie Sterns and gallery founder Andrew Edlin weren’t
sure what to expect, but the packages started to roll in — some
dropped off locally, others mailed from around the world —
photographs, films, drawings, paintings, sculptures and more.
Over 700 works by famous artists and first-timers arrived, all
of which would end up being rotated through and displayed side
by side with equal priority at AEG Underground in
The Bowery. Every work was priced at $200, the gallery
operators and artists splitting proceeds 50/50.
The whole project questioned conventional ideas of insider
and outsider art, and what it means to curate when an exhibit
is in essence anti-curation by design. In a way, it wound up
being like a work of installation meta-art, a critique and
commentary on the art world itself. (via
Arsty)
