WHAT CAN ARTISTS TEACH US ABOUT VALUE?

－ OSAGE ART FOUNDATION PRESENTS “MARKET FORCES” EXHIBITION

We are told that money is the root of all evil but in the world of art delusion, mania, deviousness, pride ambition, envy and snobbery also play an integral and revealing part of the social history that gives rise to the art itself. But are there alternatives to money? Must money and the market be the dominant arbiter of value? How else can artists achieve exposure and recognition?    Are there better ways for artists to question and contest issues, structures and social mores? Can we find new paradigms for intellectual and artistic inquiry and debate? And can these alternatives also offer inclusiveness, pluralism, self determination, independence and integrity?

An exhibition titled “Market Forces” at Osage Kwun Tong Gallery in Hong Kong addresses these questions. In this exhibition 13 artists, ten from Hong Kong and one each from Indonesia, the Philippines and Japan present projects that provoke and challenge existing theories of value.

The exhibition combines examinations of the social, psychological, political or historical basis of notions of value with examinations of aspects of the sociology of culture including its institutions and their typical relations and forms of organisation and self organisation, and ruminations on the mechanics and operation of the economic cycle of production, distribution, consumption and exchange.

Historic recurrence suggests that in the early twenty-first century the power of the artist-critic-dealer- collector relationship and of expositions of art such as art fairs and biennial exhibitions may be repudiated and replaced by a new imaginary. Shifting purchasing power from Europe and America to Asia and in particular China is likely also to have a significant impact. Likewise shifting forms of art practice will result in new challenges for artists, art historians, critics and curators and all of the artworld professions.

Changing notions of utility in art are also impacting on the economic cycle and notions of value. In economics utility is a measure of satisfaction. Economic theories (and the political structures that underpin them) operate on the understanding that people want to maximize the amount of utility they can get. Paradoxically, the principle of marginal utility says that the more you already have, the less you will value each additional unit.

“Market Forces” will offer audiences unique and provocative insights into the issues surrounding the production, distribution, exchange and consumption of art. “Market Forces” is a free platform (in every sense of the word) for free thinking about art and its dissemination. It asks: Whither Contemporary Art?

The exhibition at Osage Kwun Tong Gallery will be open from 16 May 2102 until 17 June 2012. The Opening Reception will be at 6.00pm on Friday 18 May 2012.

The artists participating in the exhibition are Au Hoi Lam, Mee Ping Leung, anothermountainman, Luke Ching, David Clarke, Wilson Shieh, Ho Sin Tung, Kacey Wong, Poklong Anading, Chow Chun Fai, Map Office, Tintin Wulia and Kentaro Hiroki.

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