A medium of exchange is defined as any agreed upon and widely accepted item given in exchange for goods or services. Frequently this medium is currency, but the equation of art with money can be quite unsettling, often perplexing and seemingly subjective. Given the variable and volatile financial times, the curators of this exhibition are interested in how the artwork in Medium of Exchange responds to and is a participant in the larger economy.
The artists selected for this exhibition were invited to display a work of art that engages with this somewhat subjective notion of worth along with a detailed accounting of how they assign its value. The sale price and/or insurance values listed for each work art are often calculated using a formula of both conceptual and physical expenses. Some artists specifically factored in concrete expenses when making a work of art such as the cost of materials, studio rent and hours of labor. Yet, these prices may also be reflective of more abstract notions such as the artist’s education, exhibition and sales history, the relation of the work in question to their larger oeuvre, and perhaps its less tangible intellectual value. The calculations and dollar amounts exhibited alongside the artists’ works draw attention to the various approaches to art’s worth and the complex notion of value in relation to the larger institution of art making.
The exhibition runs from July 7 through August 6 and is free and open to the public.
More info: www.artscape.org/visual-arts/visual-arts-detail/33 and www.towson.edu/artscalendar/
