May 30, 2009

Kaputt art!


This morning I went again to Boros' Bunker. The highlight was a man called Wolfgang in our small group of visitors.

As we are leaving a room with some lamps --a piece by Kitty Kraus without tittle-- suddenly we all hear the crash of glass breaking in tiny pieces. Wolfgang is one meter behind me, and he just kicked one of the lamps. He is schocked, as well as all the people in the group. The guide acts as if she has the situation under control, tries to be cool, and chooses the wrong word: "Kein Problem. Wir rufen gleich den Hausmeister an". Hausmeister? To sound more professional (that is exactly what she was trying to do) she should have said Kurator, or something more art-related.

Anyways. For sure that they have an insurance. And I wonder how high is this work rated: 10,000 euros, perhaps? 50,000 euros? No idea, but I can bet that at least 20,000.

In it's plain, kaputt state, I can see that this piece of art is "nothing but" four mirrors, an Osram-light-bulb, and a cable. The materials itself would never cost more than, say, 100 euros. Is the idea 19,900 euros worth?

Artists' work is overrated, and a readjustment is necessary, as it was necessary in the financial sector.


Then we go upstairs and see again broken glass on the floor. "Wolfgang was here", we all think. But no! It is part of a sculpture-installation by Katja Strunz. Kaputt by accident downstairs, kaputt by artist herself upstairs. And this kaputt glass how much would cost? At least a couple of thousand euros...

Beyond the quasi-religious admiration of artist's works, and trying to be just rational, I think this overrating is ridiculous. A readjustment in the system could help to put aside many pretensious people who are making nothing interesting in the field and taking advantage of it.

We, Mexicans, know the sad consequences of that: See how well-paid and spoiled are our soccer players. And compare they performance with our results.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Putain, ça m'énerve!!! Quelle est la différence entre cet "artiste" et El Lissitzky en 1923?? http://www.tate.org.uk/research/tateresearch/tatepapers/07autumn/berndes.htm
ça fait déjà longtemps qu'on a voulu dépasser le cadre!
Artists' work is overrated indeed, and it is not enough to be in Berlin in order to innovate! Kaputt to it all! As Radiohead lyrics go, hail to the thief!

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