The adaptation to a medium that, today more than ever, changes vertiginously proposes a constant exercise of flexibility and creativity. Art does not escape this universal rule. The new artistic circuits and productions show a vital metamorphosis. Collaboration is an increasingly present term among artists, as an alternative way of participation, inclusion, diversity, experience and exchange. But Is it possible to establish a parallel with the art market? Can a collaborative model reactivate the sale and acquisition of works?
The collaborative model is sustained by a structure of Partariado. This concept was taken from the African peoples, where different parties join, contributing their resources to a common purpose. For example, a model of Partariado To bring drinking water to an isolated people, with that objective the settlers contribute their workforce to perform the ditches, the electricity company provides the infrastructure, the women of the town feed the workers. Thus, each part is incorporated by adding its resource, which in some cases is economical, but in others it is skill, knowledge or time, resources valued like money, establishing a proportional between them.
In order for a model to be collaborative, it is essential that there is a purpose, a common transcendental purpose to the parties. It is the purpose that drives the project. If you transfer this idea to the art market, I think of the Collaborative auctions. This type of auction, unlike commercials, for benefit or solidarity, pose a collaborative round trip between the parties: artists, managers, producers, exhibition space and buyers make possible the fulfillment of the purpose and all receive their revenue for the success achieved.
In my personal experience, as manager of the collaborative auction León 100 years/ 100 works and León/ Infinito, both made with graphic work of León Ferrari, this alternative is highly effective, since it favors three key aspects: social, cultural and economic.
Socialas soon as they seek to support concrete projects that generate later positive effects. For example, on one occasion the funds raised were allocated to microcredits for entrepreneurship offered to families attended by the “El Gomero” dining room. Thus warehouses, sewing workshops, garden service, producing an activation of the family economy arose. And in another case, the resources generated served for the León Ferrari gallery of the Isauro Arancibia School will make the edition of Leon/Infinite Serigraphies, cured by the students, which today produces, through its sale, resources for the operation of the gallery.
Culturalsince the curatorship of the exhibition raises a high -level sample as a purpose in itself, as was the exhibition of 70 works by León Ferrari within reach of the general public and the students of the Isauro Arancibia school, an educational community that has been working for 30 years with people with extreme vulnerability.
Economicas long as they generate concrete opportunity for sale and valuation of the works in the market. In the experiences of which I was part, the works raised their price from the bid. In turn, an extension of the consumer public was generated. The basic values of the works were designed to be accessible to different social strata. This proposal included the art collector, but also the people who wanted to join the collaboration and art lovers who, due to economic issues, had never thought about the possibility of acquiring a work. In this sense, the auction is collaborative with the buyer offering the works to accessible values. Understanding that Beauty is a right and that art, as a maximum expression of it, must be part of our daily lives.
I think it is possible and, moreover, necessary a collaborative art model that includes the market. But, without losing sight of, that success depends on the transcendent sense that drives, sustains and unites the parties. So in this context, The auction and therefore the sale of works is the means that makes possible the fulfillment of the social and cultural purpose, the true end.
* Rosa Lesca is art co -founder in the provinces.
By Rosana Lesca
