OPENING - 23. November at 6pm, Gallery Vzigalica, Ljubljana
CAC Bukovje will present its strategies and collection in an
exhibition presenting two alternatively run art institutions (curated
by Sasa Nabergoj and Sonja Zavrtanik of SCCA Ljubljana) .
23 November – 11 December 2011
Selection of works from the CAC Bukovje collection
Curated by Nina Slejko and Conny Blom
Artists:
Rasmus Albertsen (1978, Denmark), Bababa International (group formed
in 2008, Australia), Donald Baechler (1956 USA), Conny Blom (1974
Sweden), Heath Bunting (1966 UK), Lado Darakhvelidze (1977 Georgia),
Eric Doeringer (1974 USA), Carl Johan Engberg (1977 Sweden), Gilbert &
George (1942, 1943 UK), IRWIN ( Roman Uranjek ) (group formed in 1983,
Slovenia), Lisa Jeannin (1972 Sweden) & Rolf Schuurmans (1972
Nederlands), Serkan Özkaya (1973 Turkey), Miha Perne (1978 Slovenia),
Magnus Petersson (1971 Sweden), Daniel Segerberg (1972 Sweden), Nina
Slejko (1982 Slovenia), Mladen Stropnik (1977 Slovenia), Johan Wik
(1975 Sweden), Leon Zuodar (1977 Slovenia)
Many art collections are built out of love for art. And then there are
those who are assembled as an investment. A well selected art
collection can serve to represent the profile of an institution or the
taste of a private collector, but a collection is also a signifier of
status. As such, it is very much part of a hierarchic system, one that
strives to manifest positions and maintain order. It is a capitalist
structure where art is treated as stocks and thereby a target for
speculation. Within such a structure a gallery might reject a buyer if
her/his collection does not have enough status and thus cannot further
the economic value of the piece by its inclusion in their collection.
A collector can also effectively sabotage an artist’s career if she/
he decides to sell off the works of a specific author. Artists are
very much at the mercy of the players within this system, but at the
same time, the artists should preferably not stress any commercial
aspirations of their own publicly. Nobody wants to hear that the
higher goal with an art piece is to successfully place it within a
market system. Ideally, the artists should have idealistic reasons for
making their work, and it should be executed according to a
politically leftish agenda with an oppositional stance against
established power structures. But of course, at the same time, the
artist should in reality comply with the system.
There is only one thing a rampaging capitalist system cannot deal
with. It is called “for free”. The capitalist strategies of
domination are basically based on two actions, raising or lowering
prices. There is no way of opposing something that is offered for
free. In 2006 British authorities were severely upset with Mozilla
when they figured out that the organisation was giving their Firefox
browser away for free. As they stated, if companies like Mozilla give
away their software for free, it becomes very difficult for the
authorities to enforce UK antipiracy legislation. In other words; only
if everything has a price, the system can function smoothly. As soon
as one starts giving things away for free, one becomes a threat to the
order. It is in fact rather easy to defy the system, as long as one is
okay with being poor. And judging by how many people have little
choice in the matter and have to be poor whether they like it or not,
perhaps the world is quite ready for an alternative economy.
The CAC Bukovje collection is solemnly based on donations, personal
gifts and trades. No money has changed hands, building the collection.
--
www. cac -bukovje.com
Conceptual Art Centre Bukovje
Bukovje 35
6230 Postojna
Slovenia
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