Sorry guys; we're out of art.

This is a rant about when art becomes a piss take. I do apologise that this is the first thing you get to read, but yesterday I went to the private view of the show “Sorry guys, were out of art”. Initially I thought of it as a fun and playful title. That was until I realized the title was not fun, not playful, but literal.

When I arrived I was first told to wait for 15 minutes, as they were running a bit late and “were still hanging some of the pieces”. I didn’t mind waiting. When we were finally let into the exhibition hall, I was confused. None of the artwork was there. The only thing on the walls were the labels, which were poorly put on I must add. I wondered if the artwork was maybe still being hung, and they just let people in because they felt bad for people having to wait out in the cold? As more and more people arrived, I realized that this was it. I felt annoyed, and betrayed. My tutors had ask me to come, to support my fellow classmates. What was I supposed to be supporting? “Yes, great labeling guys. You managed to spell your name correctly.” I felt betrayed, having to spending my evening going across London to support… this. 

It eventually became apparent that no one knew none of the artwork would be on show. Not the artist exhibiting, not the tutors. The artists had actually had to come in and hung up their work. When the woman who told us to wait said “they were still hanging some of the pieces”, it was actually one guy walking around taking all the pieces down. This guy’s name, was Mark. I started to feel incredibly bad for the artists whose work was supposed to be on show. I spoke to a student from third year who was supposed to be exhibiting. He mentioned he wasn’t happy, but that he felt worse for his friends, whom he had brought along. I saw a girl crying because she had worked so incredibly hard to finish her piece, and then it wasn’t even on show. To say the least, it was a radical move by this Mark guy. I mean, i would have taken a photo to show you guys but there really was nothing to photograph! Just imagine loads of white walls and upset students. 

By not telling anyone, and by making these kinds of decisions on his own, he managed to make this exhibition into his artwork, completely ripping away the ownership of the actual exhibiting artists.

A friend pointed out to me who he was, and I decided to speak to him. Assuming he had heard quite a lot of angry comments, I approach him in a calm manner. I asked him the simple question; “May I ask why you decided to curate the space in this way”, getting only a “No you may not” as an answer. I asked him the question again, stating that if he does an exhibition as radical as this one, he must be able to at least explain what it was about. His response was this: “If you can’t understand why I have done this then theres nothing I can say. Its pretty obvious don’t you think? Look at the space, it’s a corporate building!”. He didn't like the fact that the students were allowed to exhibition in a corporate building, because he was against the rich and elitist arts market. Funny thing about that. As it turns out his dads a multi-ulti-super-millionaire and this Mark guy spent over 800 pounds on creating his last art piece.