On CDOs and Double Clubs -- Call for Artwork

We are organising an exhibition and experiment on the value of art, and you are invited to participate. It will be a part of the London EAST Festival, a collaboration of key cultural institutions including the Whitechapel Gallery

We ask you to submit an artwork(s), as many as you like, and all will be exhibited (subject to a bit of small print). You are also invited to participate in our experiment, an art swap. Please forward this invitation to anyone who may be interested.

On CDOs and Double Clubs is co-curated by AUGUST art, a London art space, and Giacomo Picca, an artist who
curated draw_drawing_ (London 2004 and 2006, part of London Biennale). The exhibition will be in AUGUST art’s
gallery space in Islington, London UK, in March 2009.

The Project:

On CDOs and Double Clubs is an experiment looking at the value of art. It seems an apt time given the global
economic uncertainty, with the acquisition and prices of art falling. Damien Hirst stirred controversy with his
statement that “art is only worth what someone will pay for it”. But to those who refute this by saying that art’s value
is intrinsic, there is the question of intrinsic to whom? Intrinsic via the institutional subscription process still leads
back to the art market, even indirectly through the need for financing. Joseph Beuys said that real capital is not
money but people as the sum of creativity of all individuals. This experiment seems one way to test that.

The project will consist of this open invitation and an exhibition of all submitted works. It will also include an art swap,
where participants may choose to swap art for art (or something else of value). The aim is for no money to be
exchanged, only value for value. We, as curators, are questioning our subscription role by relinquishing it. Artists
are being asked directly the question of value, both intrinsic and extrinsic, in choosing to participate (or not) in the
exhibition and the art swap. Viewers, too, have their part to play. To acquire an artwork in the swap, they need to
assess value without the benefit of gallery endorsement and pricing and determine their own method of payment.
The final part of the project is the documentation of the art swap as the findings from this experiment, which will be
made publicly available.

The Invitation:

Please see our website for the participation conditions and Submission Form, but some important terms below:

• Exhibition: 5 to 12 March 2009 (including the “EAST” festival dates);
• Exhibition: at AUGUST art, London UK;
• Artworks may be of any medium; exhibiting artists will be acknowledged;
• Deadline for submission is 1 March 2009;
• The Art Swap is on 10 March pm; Art Swap Artists will be credited in the documentation;
• Submission Form, conditions and posting address available on our website – www.augustart.co.uk

We hope you’re interested and join the project, by participating in the Exhibition, the Art Swap and or passing this
invitation along. For FAQs, please see our websites: www.augustart.co.uk, www.giacomopicca.com, or e-mail
project@augustart.co.uk

Giacomo Picca ....................August Art