Collective Skin

A panel discussion on material living conditions of artists moderated by Vit Havránek and Tjaša Pureber

Moderna galerija auditorium

Tuesday, 7 january 2020, 6 p.m.

The closing panel debate of U3 will try to find concrete solutions to respond to the material dying of the avant-gardes. The material living conditions of – especially but not exclusively – younger artists are deteriorating year after year. Institutions and the public opinion seem to be under the assumption that an artist should invent, produce and install artistic works at their own expense in their own unpaid time; that art is an outcome of a personal necessity for self-expression; that art has no societal exchange value except for collectors; that the unpaid labor of artists may be rewarded by (posthumous) fame or the sale of their works to rich collectors. None of these presuppositions is true.

The introductory part of the panel will briefly look at the prejudices about the social significance of art, while at the main part, we will discuss the proposals for concrete solutions to avoid the material dying of art, that is, proposals formulated as a short manifesto/petition at the gathering prior to the panel discussion.