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Availability of the Thing: a sculpture made entirely of 50 Euro banknotes.
The work has gradually become bigger thanks to the people who have voluntarily given one or more 50 € banknotes, associating themselves with the fate of the work along with artists, with a pact of sharing any profits that could have come from the transaction.
For every banknote delivered, subscribers received a "Certificate of transfer/conferral," numbered and signed by the artists, to be converted, at the possible sale of the work, into a proportional share of the added value acquired. Each contributor has also received a contract (drawn up by the lawyer Paolo Bergmann), signed by the artists, with the legal conditions of the operation. The contract stated that after three years the sculpture would be put up for sale at a public auction. |
The artists Stefano Arienti and Cesare Pietroiusti have initiated the project as part of the exhibition "Regali e regole. Prendere, dare, sbirciare nel museo" (Gifts and Rules. Take, Give, Peek into the Museum) curated by Uliana Zanetti, Mambo, Bologna, April-June 2008 (photo: Matteo Monti)
The collection of 50 Euro banknotes took place from 5 April 2008 to 20 March 2012, to reach a total of 202 banknotes, which made up the final version of the sculpture. In this period the sculpture was displayed at MAMbo in Bologna and, on 13-15 November 2008, at the conference "Art for Business Forum" at HangarBicocca, Milan; on this occasion the collection contnued, as well as at the MAXXI in Rome on 1 December, 2011 (photo: Sebastiano Luciano).
Availability of the Thing was auctioned on the 25th May, 2012 at Sotheby's in Milan, with a starting price equal to the value of banknotes that constituted it (10,100 Euros), and it went unsold.
Consequently, on 23 November 2012, the artists dismantled the sculpture at the MAMbo, and returned the banknotes to all the contributors who wanted to regain possession of what they had given. With the return of each banknote, the contributors gave back to the artists their certificates. |