Money For Nothing 10 May - 29 June 2003

Money For Nothing 10 May - 29 June 2003

Andy Warhol, KFC and ABBA come together in a fun and quirky exhibition at City Gallery Wellington that explores the relationship between art and money. Opening on 10th May Money for Nothing addresses the concept of value through art from the 1960s to today, and includes works by twenty-one New Zealand and international artists.

Exhibition curator and director of Artspace, Tobias Berger, wanted to first question the value of art and then test out the way today's artists deal with this. In Money for Nothing the idea was to use art to look at the relationship between people and the economy; the way artists deal with value, economy, and the economic impacts on and of the art world.

The exhibition starts with small, more conceptual works from the 1960s like Billy Apple's FOR SALE (1961), Robert Watts attempt to copyright POP (1965), and the 1970s plaque by English Pop artist Peter Blake, from the Beatle's Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album cover fame. Two pieces by Andy Warhol, the iconic figure of 1960s Pop art, also feature.

More recent examples include Santiago Sierra who paid six men in Cuba US$30 each to stand in a row and get a line tattooed on their backs, and a film by Nomeda and Gediminas Urbonas in which the volunteer employees of the Lithuanian Savings Bank are singing the Abba classic "Money, Money, Money" the day before this last state owned bank is privatized.

Works by nine New Zealand artists also feature, including David Hatcher's pictorial representation of the wild gains and losses of the New Zealand stock market; Eimi Tamur's models of Kentucky Fried Chicken stores; and Violet Faigan's interpretation of volunteer work with her thrift store sound piece.

Artists featured include: Billy Apple (NZ/US), Peter Blake (GB), Andy Warhol (USA), Plamen Dejanoff, Violet Faigan (NZ), David Hatcher (NZ), Christian Jankowski (D), Andrew McLeod (NZ), Larry Miller (USA), Dane Mitchell (NZ), Kate Newby (NZ), Seth Siegelaub (NL), Santiago Sierra (MEX), Nomeda and Gediminas Urbonas (LIT), Emi Tamua (NZ), Rirkrit Tiravanija (IND), Robert Watts (USA), Lauren Winstone (NZ), Peter Robinson (NZ).

City Gallery Wellington is managed by the Wellington Museums Trust with major funding from the Wellington City Council. Events principal sponsor: Montana Wines Ltd.

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