++++ It was the most spectacular action leading up to Manifesta 4. The Swiss artist, Christoph Büchel, who had been invited to take part in Manifesta, passed on his invitation to the highest bidder by auctioning his rights on the internet at eBay. A critical note on the strategy of selecting artists used by the Manifesta curators? A playful engagement with the trading centre of Frankfurt with a not so subtle dig at the art industry? Or simply a need for money?
Büchel has said nothing about his motives nor about the aims which he is pursuing with the money he has received, and unfortunately he also did not show up at the opening. Sal Randolph, above all, for whom the purchased right to participate in Manifesta was worth over 17 thousand euros, regrets this.
But how does someone position themself in an art exhibition who is participating not on the basis of their artistic work but solely because of their financial resources?
Sal Randolph found this exciting in itself and tells about how it was a personal risk to which she exposes herself daily at the Kunstverein. After all, she does not belong, and she feels it, even though she has formally been equipped with everything that the other participants have such as a good place to exhibit and an entry in the catalogue. At least Sal Randolph is not exhibiting any floral watercolours or some similar hobby art.
The New York artist has been engaged for several years with the thought of liberating art from qualitative selection criteria and so she donated her participation rights in Manifesta to a further one hundred and fifty artists who have received a forum under the title Freemanifesta. They are presenting projects of diverse qualities and kinds, from mail art through actions in the Frankfurt urban space up to Christian-motivated chain letters. They are presented on the internet at www.freemanifesta.org and also in the form of copied information slips in the foyer of the Frankfurt Kunstverein where Sal Randolph has her information stand which can be reached even without possessing a Manifesta admission ticket.
She explains why she is doing this in roughly the following way. Giving, that is, to give something without expecting anything for it, is an action which is seldom practised in our society. She has put in a lot of money and in return she is receiving a lot of experiences and contacts.
She has also given away the right to a portrait photo. She instructed the photographer, Jörg Baumann, simply to take a couple of shots in the city and to use them instead of her likeness.
Frankfurter Kunstverein, Steinernes Haus am Römerberg. hoh