Featured
Performance by Julia Droga, 2019
A performance by Julia Droga where she borrows € 20 notes from an audience and carries them with her over a period of time without spending them. The banknotes will be part of her "live" performance and will be used in different ways. At the end, the money is returned to their owners. ( Photographes by Emmanuelle Quertain )
performance
8 hours
2013 - 2020
In a city’s financial district, the performer begs for coins from passers-by. Each of its several beggar cups is destined to a listed company (i) on the stock market. When the value in the paper cup equals the value of the share, that share is acquired, and so on.
(i)The more expensive the share price, the bigger the cup size.
glass & paper
17 x 12 cm
2014
Seven hand-shredded dollar bills in a hand-erased (i) champagne glass.
(i) Various Artists .OMADIG, coupeParfait, BOUCALAIS, 2004-20. During the walk, champagne glass abraded.
gold
2.2 x 2.2 cm
2009 -2020
Anel is a collection of different gold rings that have been transformed by a performer who wears it and scrapes it against walls and buildings. The rings lose substance and therefore diminish in value while, symbolically and poetically, raising the value of the city and its surroundings by leaving traces of the precious metal.
gold dust
variable dimensions
2009
In a bar, the leftover gold dust of scraping a ring is left on the table in the shape of a line of cocaine. (i)
(i) In all cases, the bartender (F/X/M) wipes the dust that contains about one gram of gold (worth € 53 at the time of placement) from the table.
typewriting on banknote
36 x 12.8 cm
2016 - 2020
All current internationally available banknotes were checked on their depiction of women (14,19%), men (61,83%) and animals (23,98%).
paper
0.5 x 4.3 cm
2017
Sale of shares in a €100 note. (i)
(i) In 2017, for the opening of dina, the office space of nadine, we presented the first version of 001-1697583-62 - cutting up a €100 bill in 19 parts and selling 18 coupons at a ninetheenth of the initial value. The remaining part is then for sale as an art piece, and the proceeds go back to the shareholders.
Partially unscratched lottery tickets. (i)
variable dimensions
2016 - 2020
(i) To stay virtually wealthy.
paper & copperplate
14 x 11 cm
2016
Banknote with copper name plate engraved “N0T F0R SALE”. (banknote included)
latex on paper
14 x 7.7 cm
2020
50 euro banknote attached to a wall and then covered with paint. This work will be installed on site.
banknote (i), machine washed at 90°
paper
variable dimensions
2016
(i) banknote was first folded as wild origami (ii) and worn in the watch pocket of a jeans for several days
(ii) wild origami = origami without design
to be realised project/installation (i)
variable dimensions
2016
A series of chimney cowls in the form of a wild origami (ii) €500 note, mass-produced and donated to the Greek population.
(i) In 2016 we traveled by car to Athens to participate at Art ATHINA. Greece was in the middle of a financial crisis and Europe was building a new autostrade from München to Athens. At the fair we were approached by a German gallery (Das Esszimmer, Bonn) to present a show in the near future. We came up with the idea of a gift from Germany to Greece: to give a metal chimney fowl in de shape of a “wild” origami €500 bill to every Greek household. We never heard from the gallery again.
(ii) Wild origami happens when stuffing a banknote in the watch pocket of a jeans and wearing it for a few days.
application
digital file
2020
The Art of Application Writing.
i/ Lorem Ipsum, r/ somethingBorrowed, z/ his Words not mine, h/ Campfire Tales, b/ Win for Life, D/ All of It, f/ All of Them, k/ countDown, p/ In Dreams, etc...
Damage coin with the effigy of Leopold 2, King of the Belgians. The value (i) is estimated at €72,000,000,000,000.00 (ii).
(i) It is estimated that 10 million lives were lost under Leopold 2's reign in Congo. One human life is valued (by insurance companies) at $8,000,000.00.
(iii) Before this coin can be purchased, full compensation must be paid.
service
5 years
2020
Add an artist to your company's payroll, no conditions, for one day a month, for 5 years.
various materials
variable dimensions
2016
Burn marks of €50 banknote for sale for minus €20 (i).
(i) Banknote to be provided by the buyer.
Cildo Meireles & Various Artists
ink & pencil on paper
21 x 29.7 cm
1984 - 2020
not for sale
Original drawing by Cildo Meireles, 1984, mechanically erased by Various Artists for AllhiheyAll (i).
(i) AllhiheyAll is a conceptual drawing method initiated by Various Artists and carried out by ‘others’. In AllhiheyAll Various Artists aims to exploit an unconscious force of a public. Via multiple ways VA asks people to carry, ride or drive around with envelopes, boxes or canisters that contain a variety of drawing-mechanisms and paper sheets. Every mechanism has its own timetable, so that after a certain span of time (this varies between 1 day to 1 year, depending on the specific needs of the drawing) the device can be recalled. After the recollection, the application is being dismantled and the drawing - once revealed - is being scanned, numbered and signed. Finally the drawing is returned to the person who executed the work.
shirt & coins
70 x 50 cm
2005
White cotton shirt with piggy bank breast pockets (i).
(i) choose to donate left or right to receive a left or right tour by the guide (F,X,M)
Cildo Meireles
mixed techniques
2.7 x 2.7 x 0.5 cm
2017
Cryptocurrency created by Cildo Meireles to allude to Bitcoin and value oscillation systems in general, the work also makes reference to the iconic conceptual art work done by Piero Manzoni in 1961, Merda d’artista.
performance
24 hours
2020
Hire Various Artists for one day and they will ring the bell each time they make €1.00.
pen on paper
27.9 x 21 cm
1970 - 2020
Series of punishment writing lines (“I promise never to become an artist.(i)”) by a child of 7 to 11 years old (ii).
(i) In childhood, like many among us, Various Artists was advised by parents, priests and teachers not to become an artist.
(ii) The young writer (F/X/M) gets an signed copy with the promise that this work can hopefully be sold for €1000 or more in a few years time.