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The discussion group of active UK artists and arts professionals 'Making a Living' has set forth an open challenge to the Tate Modern against the backdrop of their 10 year celebrations. The 'No Sould for Sale' event beng held by the Tate to celebrate the “spirit of reciprocal generosity between Tate and the contributors” . Many contributors are being expected to provide basic resources such as tables and chairs and Making a Living have made issue of some of the possible exploitations that this practice, by a major institution, seems to approve: "The title No Soul For Sale re-enforces deeply reductive stereotypes about the artist and art production. With its romantic connotations of the soulful artist, who makes art from inner necessity without thought of recompense, No Soul For Sale implies that as artists we should expect to work for free and that it is acceptable to forego the right to be paid for our labour."
The Tate is clearly making a lot of money from this event and there seems a lack of support for artists, who are expected to work for free. But this is simply not possible for many artists who don't have a priviledged background or who simply can't afford for one reason or another to self-fund. Making a Living (a group of internationally exhibited artists) are calling on the Tate to "make public its policy in regard to artists’ fees." For more information or to show your support you can contact Making a Living: makingaliving@live.co.uk
think perhaps there's weight to the prestige of the Tate as a name:
ReplyDeletea platform:
go back to the low-fi shows of the so called young british artists:
their lack of funds didn't stop them from putting on exhibitions or
thinking of different ways to expose their art:
if you want it:
beg steal borrow:
^_^
I do agree with that - of course the YBA's are all earning millions now because they rebelled against the institutions that they now rely on to exhibit because their work is too expensive to put up in a warehouse in Bethnal Green - but the situation now is different - reversed even - with institutions such as Tate allowing many artists the 'opportunity' to try and get a name through this particular event, even though it just makes the artists involved look a bit desperate, rather than heroic or rebellious, like the good ol' YBA's did in their day. It is indeed a platform but one that perhaps has a power relationship that favours institutions over artists and therefore diminishes the value of the work inthe end? There are two sdes to this though and hopefully some of the artists will either sell work or get enough exposure to further their careers - if they can afford it first that is!
ReplyDeleteAlso there has been some interesting research done. In a recent study conducted by DR. Judith Stewart into the careers of visual artists it was found that only 16% of artists sell work. Here's an exerpt from here presentation given to Essex County Council:
ReplyDelete“artists are still underpaid...their earnings are miniscule compared with their qualifications...as a workforce they have higher levels of degrees than average...but their earnings are below average...on the Art Crest survey 2009, 45% don’t make enough money to make their work and support their practice...only 16% sell work...66% earn les than £15,000 a year [the poverty line]...48% of artists have their primary income from non-arts related sources. Bearing in mind that the average ACE grant from grants for the arts is less than £5000, which you won’t get every year, 80% of the respondents to the survey had applied for grants for the arts but only half had been successful...so you’re looking at a very tight financial situation...which highlights one of the difficulties for artists, which is balancing the notion of earning a living and having the time to do your work...which if your making your money from non-arts related sources is becoming increasingly difficult...” (Judith Stewart, March 2010).
...Food for thought!
not sure the event makes the artists look desperate:
ReplyDeleteit's an opportunity that many probably wouldn't entertain:
but it could be a big heave up the ladder for those who put themselves
out on a limb ~ whether it be financially or by compromising their artistic testament:
it depends how much you want it:
and what that 'it' means in terms of their future:
interesting article on underpayment of artists:
nothing surprising there really:
a juxtaposition on the yba's and their now expanded bank balances!
unfortunately employers and funding agencies don't often get how creative thinking can be implicated across all disciplines:
it's not just about paint and canvas:
this could run & run ....