A series of live art performances that collide market systems determining the ‘worth’ of art with a public interrogation of mechanisms of desire and transaction that inform our relationship to art.
For its premier in the Festival of Live Art FOLA 2016 @ Arts House, and quoting a local politician’s comment regarding a contemporary art exhibition at the time, The Really Live Art Auction was titled the ‘Complete Smut Art Auction’.
The ‘Complete Smut Art Auction’ was awarded two 2017 Green Room Awards for ‘Innovation in Participatory Performance’ and ‘Production’ in the Experimental and Contemporary Performance category.
“I laughed so hard I nearly vomited”.
Participating audience member after experiencing Trash Classic in the Complete Smut Really Live Art Auction.
Ever since a certain urban Councillor publicly declared that a gallery should be closed down because a work it was exhibiting was “complete smut!”, at Punctum we’ve been pondering questions to do with desire, transaction and public opinion. The Really Live Art Auction is our response. Working with a clutch of fabulous artists, we let the market decide what’s up for grabs for public presentation and investment, and we let the public determine what’s worth buying or banishing.
Each of The Really Live Art Auction works expresses potentially controversial subject matter – a taboo subject, outrageous act, contentious view point, provocative gesture, problematic and deliberate use of language, a questionable aesthetic, a corrupted operation. But it’s perhaps that it’s a ‘live’ auction with the artists as auction lots that is most contestable.
All the works are available for purchase at the auction and inform an on-line catalogue. The auction is an event where audience members are bidders and successful bidders determine the hosting and presentation of the work within the festival program.
Concept and Artistic Direction: Jude Anderson/Punctum
Auctioneer: Penelope Bartlau
Designer Assistant & Stage Manager: Nina Fazzini
Costume and Body Sculpture: Mila Faranov
Assistant Stage Manager: Alexia Bucelli-Campus
Auction Manager: Adrian Corbett
Co-producer: Josh Wright (Artshouse)
Production Manager: Tony Macdonald (Artshouse)
Contributing Artists and Performers: Ali Alizadeh, Mauricio Carrasco, Emilie Collyer, Enema, Fleur Dean, Emil Freund, Andrew Goodman, Shani Mohini Holmes, Edgar Hechavarria Ricardo, Sapidah Kian, Aurora Kurth, Terence Jaensch, Louise O’Dwyer, Craig Peade, Tim Ratcliffe, Adrian Sherriff, Jacques Soddell and Amy Turton.
Thanks to: Angharad Wynne Jones and the entire Artshouse team for their trust and market place pizazz. Kudos to Punctum’s Chair and members for their auction registration desk prowess.
