Touch me!

Neuenschwander installation

This last months Barcelona's CaixaForum hosts the series Què pensar? Què desitjar? Què fer? (What to think? What to wish? What to do?) from La Caixa's collection of contemporary art, divided into three periods. Until Abril 8^th we can see the artwork from the second part of the series, the one called Què desitjar?, where we'll find one of the most iconic installations of the series, which actually gives name to this particular period: I wish your wish, by Brazilian artist Rivane Neuenschwander. The work is a big polyethylene panel that covers all the wall and from which are hanged thousands of coloured ribbons with wishes the artist asked her friends to write. We can find from “I wish other people's wishes to come true”, like “I wish to make friends at school”, “I wish a fairer world” or “I wish I could travel in time and space”. The viewer stands suddenly in front of the whole range of ribbons and a small poster announcing the rules of the game: "Chose a wish and take it with you. Tie it to your wrist with two rounds and three knots” in the same way of the bracelets we used to wear when we were kids. Thus a link is established between the visitor's childhood and the artwork, spending minutes and minutes looking for the wish that best suits you and, often, looking after the room's guard double-checking if the ribbons can be taken for real. Leaving aside Neuenschwander work, so tender and original, I wanted to talk about our difficulty to play with art, to touch artwork. The history of our art and culture has taught us that art has somehow like an aura (if I am aloud once more to take Walter Benjamin as a reference), away and high, being a sacrilege to touch it; but we are forgetting that sometimes contemporary art is made to play with it, to interact, and this it is not complete until the viewer intervention. It seems hard for us to interact with artwork, we use to think it is something forbidden. We ask for permission to guides or guards, and even if we have been told we can touch or we have read instructions, we act taken by a prohibitive anxiety. An example I remember is when I visited the Museo Vostell Malpartida in Cáceres (Spain), where there were various artwork you had to interact with, like chairs you needed to sit on or a room full of dirt you had to clean or mess with a hover, according to your personality. Or the 54^th Venetian Biennial, in 2011, where at the Spanish Pavilion entrance two assistants startled the visitor with personal questions while making them walk over a tiled path that was part of the installation.

It seems to be hard when we have, when we can touch an artwork, it still seems like a blasphemy against art, but at the same time we feel the joy of reaching what is forbidden; that's why from Cultural Crops we encourage you fervently to participate, touch and play with the artwork because it is, at last, a two way game between author-artwork-receptor.

Guiomar Sánchez

@guiomar_sp

Portraits

Julius II (1512) Rfaello Sanzio

We can find it in many museums: portraits of Popes, Kings, nobles and courtiers. Nowadays we admire it as an artwork, but every portrait is also a historical document of a time and a specific ideology. Art is not only about beauty. What makes a work to be art is precisely its link with the context and, in the case of Renaissance and Baroque portraits, WHO was the person portrayed and why. Hence it is through art that the most important characters of an age are immortalized and every portrait becomes a reminder of their legacy.

For example one of the most prominent names of the Hight Renaissance would be Pope Julius II, the Warrior Pope and also Michelangello's and Rafaello's patron. But which contemporary artist could leave us a portrait of the new Pope Francis I? In the effort to preserve our past aren't we ignoring our own footprint? The answer is no. What really happens is that our footprint has changed over the centuries so the right question here will be: What will we find in futur museum when we look to portraits of our the 21st Century?

Marilyn Monroe (1960's) Andy Warhol

The figures we see immortalized in contemporary art are no longer the political and religious leaders, these groups are not anymore the most important for our society. Think about famous portraits of the 20^th Century. Probably one of the most famous would be Andy Warhol's Marilyn Monroe. The show business! The most important characters of our time, those that are now immortalized, are singers, actors and athletes. What would we see in futur museums showing our age? Lady Gaga's portrait.

Ricard Gispert
@ricardgispert

Burninig culture

Aerial view of the fire

These past days a bitter story took the media: Naples was on fire. Monday morning the Naples Science Museum burned – or rather was set on fire, as it is suspected it was the Neapolitan Camorra. The so called Città della Scienza had consumed while the firefighters tried to extinguish the fire throughout the day. Damages are incalculable and only one of the buildings could had been saved. Obviously that represents an important grievance because of the amount of employees that now remain without a job as well because of the almost total destruction of the museum buildings and its heritage but, especially, we should remember the “City of Science” was one of the biggest investments of the city in the past years. With a high capital it had been built a modern museum with lots of interactive spaces, as it is used in the science museums; with touch screens, audiovisuals, and all kind high-tech new and expensive elements. Leaving aside the utility, sustainability and profitability of the project, the fact is that it had been decided to invest in this project and now in the course of one day everything is lost. So I ask myself, which value have today museums, culture and heritage around us? Which social influence has something that can be burned without regrets? Since long time ago armed conflicts have led to a loose in heritage materials, besides some kind of “right” interventions, like the fact of spoliation, which helped to save part of the material, or like the withdrawal of artworks during the 20^th Century wars, when the importance of the national heritage was starting to be looked after. However it is not even necessary to look to the past century, that still happens in the Middle East, where almost all the archeological heritage have been destroyed, or during the Arab Spring in Egypt, when a lot of mummies where taken off the museums. Watch out, though! Do not misunderstood my words and fall into a banal "save people regardless of culture" as that hapless David Bisbal's tweet in which the Spanish singer lamented the loss of tourism in Egypt because of the armed conflicts. The problem here is the low importance of art, culture and heritage in our society, harming it or even leaving it to die. In the same way that it's hard to see the heritage being lost because of a war it is also griefful to see it spoiled and forgotten, leaving it to the extent of criminal acts, violence or vandalism.

Guiomar Sánchez
@guiomar_sp

Art trade in times of crisis

One of the main worries of this historical period in which we are living is the purpose of capital investment and the benefits that they generate. It is for this reason that the commercialization of Art has been also included in this universe, but in a wider sense. What it is meant by the last statement is that Art is not only listed by its materiality, but since the end of the last century and especially in these first two decades of our century, many of the leading artistic productions intrinsically linked a philosophical and intellectual value that releases most of its materiality, becoming even a part of a completely Conceptual Art. However, art investors commit paying for this thought which makes us completely modern and contemporary in the world we are living.

Perhaps these words may be an offence for an expert, but it would be incorrect not to accept that the art world has been related to the trade practices almost from its inception. Therefore, considering this as a value linked to the history of art, we will look to how these productions are evaluated and how is surviving the art market in these difficult times that we living.

According to the academics, nowadays there is a remarkable difference between economic value for the old paintings -everything produced before the 20^th Century- and for contemporary productions. This is based on the high prices for Contemporary Art, which as we have said before is an art mostly paid for its conceptual and intellectual value. While art considered as “ancient” remains on stable prices and transactions, Contemporary Art gets to move about $ 60 million annually in the art market. Although these calculations include also the antiquities and decorative art's markets, anyway the thing is that the artistic world is about big numbers, or at least that's what the data show for now. Unfortunately the critical situation has also affected the world of buying and selling art. While before it was recognized that the bad economic situation had interfered the maintenance and management of the artistic heritage, nowadays, from a commercial or particular point of view, the situation has gone through a substantial decrease both on the artistic production and its commercialism worldwide, as London and New York still stand as cores of the artistic trade.

The two factions of Art mentioned respond and are governed by different laws and principles, according to the economic times in which they are. If until now the great economic bubble had opted for Contemporary Art as speculative goods, especially in the inverter collector profile, the new situation redirects the expectations in the fields of the art market. Currently, in accordance with the recessionary times we live in, the economic change projects its capital investment towards the solid markets of Ancient Art.

One of the clearest and more relevant examples showing this economical situation is the galleries and artists fair in Madrid, now on its 32th edition of ARCO, held last month in the Spanish capital. This edition also was affected by the bad economic situation affecting both the conditions of the exhibition and the works presented by the galleries and artists. Therefore, all the preparations to shape this event were performed in a more contained way, adapting art shows to the current and real world conditions. While it is reason enough to prepare the art fair for the current crisis, another fact is added as a border for the commercial development of contemporary art: the application of the 21% VAT in culture, which is presented by the galleries as the most negative point for its commercial development. This makes them confirm that Spanish galleries are not competitive against other states or countries, while there is also a weakness in the Spanish artists. Throughout this it is also very difficult to find and present the most controversial and ground-breaking artwork, as the productions adapt to the market conditions and the taste of general customer, regardless of all creative genius. However, other opinions do not completely condemn the situation and opt for a more optimistic adaptation to reality.

Finally, we will give an end to this little reflection on the current state of the art market, with Urroz's words, president of ARCO, who reflects on the art market that the business is important when it has been affected by the loss of purchasing power of public institutions, and therefore, must watch the market towards larger collectors and individuals. To put it simply, in difficult times we must opt for the less cost effective solution, so as not to reach the end of the trading of Contemporary Art, even if for a lot of people it is not seen as a very correct solution.

Antoni Obiols

Slave trade

Street Art is probably one of the more controversial types of contemporary art. The artist leaves his mark on the street, usually in a wall which doesn't belong to him, so the author of an artwork is not entirely the owner. Neither is it the building owner, as it becomes a part of the street not of the building, so in most cases it's the local authority who will take care of it. Art as a property that can't be sold is an idea from the early twentieth century with artists such as Marcel Duchamp with his ready-made works, which were already critic with the art trading system. Street Art, as an art belonging to the street, began with good premises to avoid falling into the elite of art trade... or am I wrong?

Slave Labour (2012), the disappeared graffity represents a child sewing 

flags of the UK and is interpreted as a criticism of poorly paid job with 

which London has been fittedsouvenirs for the Olympic Games.

Thanks to the persistent criticism and protests the auction house Fine Arts Auction Miami has removed a Banksy artwork which since two weeks ago was in a random wall of a London suburb. Frederic Thut, owner of the FAAM, has said they always check the legitimacy of all the sellers to prevent trading stolen works; although Scotland Yard, London's Metropolitan Police, has said there had been no theft report for this specific but someone just decided to remove it to sell it: "there is no evidence that any crime was committed”. Do not think so residents of the borough of Haringey who had mobilized to stop the auction and return the artwork, that they see as a gift from Banksy to the community, to its place. Luckily it seems that this time is the people united who wins and the artwork will not be auctioned.

The human desire to possess more, inadvertently becoming a salve of his own possessions, has led to Street Art not being longer safe of speculation and anyone seems free to take off a piece of wall and sell it to the highest bidder. In that case the artist remains over of any equation and not only doesn't get any profit but also sees helpless how his criticism to the system inevitably ends up being part of it. Or maybe am I wrong again and I should consider that as the artist is damaging other people's property without permission nobody should either ask for his permission to do whatever they want with his artwork?