Selling The Sky: An Exhibition on Value
[Money is] an abstract concept with real effects – Marina Vishmidt.
How is value determined for a work of art? Who decides this? What is the social value? What is the monetary value? Like other objects in society, art is part of a market, whether it wants to be or not. What makes the art market unique is artists are not corporations who prioritize returns on investment as the primary objective for their labor, for getting out of bed in the morning. A simple shift allows more possibilities to occur. Yet, inherent in monetary value of the work of an artist, lies in the maker’s self value. With expanded resources (time, material, and labor) the mind and body of the artist is better to care for the self and to focus on expanding a practice, that is, securing and arranging materials and labors. The artist may personally value their work on it’s ability to give more freedom to the self and may come in the form of social and political value.
Placement of pieces in the gallery by artists Tina Kohlman, Justin Vaughan Allen, and Sarah Meyohas opens communication between the objects and makers to establish conceptual, real, or fantastical value.
Selling The Sky directly seeks to establish value using the gallery space as a medium.
Mariah Maloney will choreograph Pixelation Space in the performance space with dancer Chelsea Spraker. By arriving, the audience shares a communal witness of performances, spaces, and objects. Movement to and in the space gifts additional momentum to existing objects and puts other objects or ideas in motion.