The 785 artists ahead of me (only in Austria!!!)

Networking-Performance, Vienna Art Fair 2010

As some sort of (self)ironic statement to artist rankings, Schwarz used his solo presentation at the viennese art fair 2010 for a performative setting to welcome and congratulate all the 785 artists which are ranked ahead of him (…and that’s just the numbers in Austria!!!). Huge lists with detailed data to all their careers (figures from the artist ranking artfacts.net) are sticked on the wall, comfortable chairs invite for a chat, cold drinks are offered.

If the colleagues are willing to participate, Schwarz is “trying to absorb some of their successful karma (and points) in a polaroid-powered, voodoo-like procedure.” The polaroid portrait of the artists shaking hands and a short text on their encounter is sticked on small wooden panels, which are immediately offered as art works on the art market. The price for one documentation panel is depending on the points of the particular artist. The panel with austrian painter Christoph Holzeis (Rank 27.733, Points 961) is worth 29 Euro, the most expensive one is Gunter Damisch (Rank 1.561, Points 18.972) for 569 Euro.