Our presentation teaches you how to survive the art world, stay morally untainted, and get filthy rich while you’re at it. It’s a story of hope in an age of despair. It’s a tutorial for successful counter-insurgency, a mythology for the avant-garde to come. The only thing we might have to bid farewell to is art itself. Oh well.
A collective of young artists seeking a way to sustain our practices, we have observed the art world with concern. Following the crises in the art market from 2008–2009, with prices plummeting a record breaking 43 percent, we have witnessed what seemed to be a rapid recovery of the contemporary art market during 2010 and 2011, with an annual growth of 8 percent and 23 percent respectively. Prices, to paraphrase but one recent survey, are “once again demonstrating good resistance.” And yet, alarming indicators as to our near future are abundant. In 2012, global auction revenue dropped by 6 percent with more than a third of contemporary artworks at auction remaining unsold. Generally, the scope of the market is getting narrower— fewer people are buying more expensive art and focusing on established names. Regardless: in the midst of it all, the source of hope has been there all along, right in front of us. We might have found an exit strategy—allow us to pitch it to you. Keeping our cards close to our chest, at this point we shall merely insinuate: In Every Crisis Lies the Seed of Opportunity.