www.artout.

org
Naas Nedia Verlag, Berlin Vol. 4O
"ho 8oul For 8ale" was printed on Tate Nodern's invitation for its 1Oth anniversar]. Perhaps we are
not selling our 'immaterial laoour' (Naurizio lazzaratoj so easil] ]et we often treat our life as creative
projects (luc Boltanskij. Chris Dercon, next director of Tate Nodern, descrioes creative practitioners
toda] as zomoies and vampires due to the precarious working conditions we face and endless free
services we are willing to offer.
when self-exploitation seems to oe the norm as a survival strateg], how is it possiole for cultural
workers to sa] 'no'?
without existential securit], what aoout our aoilit] to challenge?
Has contemporar] art oeen completel] aosoroed o] the thought of political correctness?
l-wei li, CE0 of ART0UT
ART0UT is more explosive than Holl]wood and far more innovative than Art Basel. lt will turn ]our life
into a true artistic experience. 8ervices include the artist spending time with the client, discussing
art and other issues, accompan]ing the client to the movies, pla]s, restaurants, art openings, perfor-
mances, attending oirthda] parties, weddings, oar mitzvah, funerals, academic conferences, fund-
raising dinners and other events.
Each sponsor of an ART0UT event gets a special certifcate designed o] the artist, confrming their
participation. Photo and video documentation of the event are availaole upon request.
hot all of our artists are listed in our director]. lf ]ou have a special request, do not hesitate to contact
us. Prepare ]our ART0UT event at least one month in advance. we offer corporate discounts as we
oelieve an]one can oecome a successful art affectionado.
Travel arrangements can oe made.
we accept compan] & personal checks, cash, and most major credit cards.
The law of the capitalist market with its emphasis on the ever-narrowing specialization of laoor and
maximization of profts invites artists to reinvent themselves over and over in order to escape the
market-imposed limits to their identit]. This limited identit] confnes artists to seek satisf]ing the rul-
ing class demand for the special commodit] fetish known as Art and reproduce institutionall]-defned
ideolog] of culture. ln ooth cases the producer and the consumer of Art are limited in their freedom o]
the traditional modes of material exchange.
we, at ART0UT, oelieve that art is an open concept and artistic praxis is the process of oecoming that
corresponds to the totalit] of individual temporalit]. Artistic creativit] results from the dialectical rela-
tion oetween the acceptance of the market as the underl]ing principle of social realit], and the need
to escape its imperatives of ooedience and consensus, its locus is the individualit] of the artist. The
artist pla]s the messenger and the message, the self-medium that fnds its legitimac] through the
charismatic negation of conventionalit].
we oelieve that the individualit] of the artist is far more signifcant than the material end-product of
the artist's laoor. we are extending the limits of the traditional market-model to recognize the artist
as the self-defned commodit] whose value resides in the immaterialit] of artist's creative oecoming.
8pending time in the compan] of the artist is a new "creative" commodit] exchange, it reveals power
relations within the existing artist-patron paradigm and leads to the mutual lioeration of ooth artists
and art patrons from the condition of simple material production and accumulation to the next level of
the direct creative exchange within the dominant capitalist art market paradigm.
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A8T0UT: an |ntroduct|on
o] Anton Koslov Na]r
00'est-ce q0e I'art? Ircstit0ticn
Charles Baudelaire
ART0UT escort service project, launched in Paris in 2OOO, in man] wa]s is a fruit of a long ooservation
of the art scene ooth in Europe and in the United 8tates. Between 2OOO and 2OOO, l run an educational
project Engarde that investigated the political econom] of art through a series of exhioits, seminars
and conferences. Engarde primaril] focused on the issues related to production of cultural oojects and
meaning, their consumption and the identit] of artists, critics, curators and collectors within a larger
framework of the capitalist market s]stem in general and the art market in particular. However, the
traditional academic approach upon which Engarde was oased, demonstrated its limitations and o]
2OOO it oecame clear that an] serious inquir], in order to produce tangiole results, demands a more
radical strateg].
The ideological genealog] of ART0UT ma] oe traced to various sources. Nikhail Bakhtin's theor] of
the carnival, developed in his seminal BabeIais anc his wcrIc is one of them. Performance art as a
form of this carnivaIesq0e tire, in which accepted ooundaries and distinctions oetween realit] and
representation are suoverted (and this is wh] it is radicall] different from traditional theaterj ma] oe
an example. lt explains wh] ART0UT has a large numoer of performance artists as participants and
enters squarel] into the tradition of "disturoational art" to use Arthur Danto's term
1
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ART0UT ma] also oe put in the context of instit0ticnaI critiq0e as developed o] artists like Andrea
Fraser and others. lnstitutional critique was conceived as a form of commentar] of the various cultural
institutions and assumed ncrraIities of art as well as disarticulation of the institution of art and its
various practices. ln the case of ART0UT, it is the relationship oetween the artist and his/her collector/
consumer (ooth individual and institutionalj that is oeing staged as a performance.
ART0UT has also oeen informed o] the conceptual art inquir] into the ver] morpholog] of art. This
inquir], political in nature, questions the economic dimension of art production, namel] the commodit]
fetish of cultural production, m]stifcation of products and commodifcation of the artist's personalit].
At a certain stage of its development, art lost its aoilit] to generate its own defnition and, therefore,
produce an] signifcant oppositional movement outside of the existing cultural institutions. Creation
of culturall] signifcant oojects had oeen turned into an enterprise of creating marketaole "novelt]",
fetishisation of novelt] meant the collapse of the avant-garde since an] political opposition to the
existing mode of art production and distrioution oecame impossiole. The art market imposed total
reifcation of the process of art production, reducing it to manufacturing of oojects and events in
specifcall] designated spaces o] professionall] designated people. Cultural institutions oecame the
superstructure of the market place on which art was oeing oought and sold like an] other merchan-
dise, rel]ing on an all-encompassing process of m]stifcation. This m]stifcation consisted of investing
oojects with the market value o] placing them in the context of art histor]. Art ooject as a commodit]
fetish that offers "art historical value" oecame an investment vehicle and as such re-affrmed (and
continue to re-affrmj a certain economic model with its histor] of art and its hierarch] of culture. ln
man] wa]s, the entire art market and its adjacent institutional territories oecame a one oig Bernard
Nadoff collection.
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ln the frst four ]ears of its existence (2OOO-2O1Oj ART0UT went through a formative stage. lt has
oeen denigrated and accused of oeing an "illicit" enterprise, snuooed, presented as a freak show, out
also hailed as the most innovative art project in the period of glooal fnancial crisis (o] The hew York
Post.j Toda] we are entering a new stage - that of a full] functional compan], with the CE0, advisor]
ooard, deposited trademark, and representing a group of highl] motivated artists.
ART0UT is an open-end project that is set to operate on the threshold oetween "realit]" and "art" and
defes the idea of a designated art space. ART0UT ma] ver] well oe a relational project, although, we
do not oelieve that one night-out with an artist can produce a relationship - an enterprise too utopian
to oe taken seriousl]. However, we oelieve that the meaning in art, just like the meaning in a lan-
guage, resides neither in the artist's intention nor in what he or she does out at a point oetween the
artist's intention and that of his or her viewer and consumer. 0ur goal (and/or our productj is to create
a ciaIcizec hetercIcssia that explores an alread] existing set of meanings, relations, clichs and
pre-conceived ideas. B] doing so we want to further the ongoing inquir] into the nature of art produc-
tion and test the limits of the "art scene" to see whether the Baudlerian insight into the nature of art
still holds true. "l'art. peut deriver d'un sentiment genereux. le gout de la prostitution, mais il est
oientt corrompu par le gout de la proprit."
2
1
Danto, Arthur - The Philosophical Disenfranchisement of Art, Columoia Universit] Press, 2OO5
2
Art. can oe derived from a generous sentiment. the taste of prostitution, out it soon is corrupted o] the taste of propert].
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Tha 0aopo||t|cs of P|mp|ng
o] 8uel] Rolnik
8|rth of a F|ax|b|a Subjact|v|ty
Until the earl] 19OOs we lived oeneath a disciplinar] Fordist regime that reached its height in the
"American wa] of life" triumphant in the postwar period, when a politics of identit] reigned in suojec-
tivit], along with a rejection of the resonant ood]. These two aspects are in fact inseparaole, oecause
onl] to the extent that we anesthetize our vulneraoilit] can we maintain a staole image of ourselves
and the other, that is, our supposed identities. without this anesthesia, we are constantl] deterritorial-
ized and led to reconfgure the outlines of our selves and our territories of existence. Until the earl]
19OOs, the creative imagination operated mainl] o] sneaking awa] to the fringes. That period came to
an end in the course of 19OOs-7Os as a result of cultural movements that proolematized the govern-
ing regime of the time, calling for "l'imagination au pouvoir." Those movements orought the dominant
mode of suojectivation into crisis, and it soon collapsed along with the entire structure of the Victorian
famil] at its Holl]wood apogee - a structure which had oeen fundamental for the regime whose hege-
mon] oegan to fade at that moment. A "fexiole suojectivit]" was then created, accompanied o] radi-
cal experimentation with modes of existence and cultural creation which shattered the "oourgeois"
lifest]le at its politics of desire, with its logic of identit], its relation to otherness and its culture. ln the
resulting "counter-culture," as it was called, forms were created to express that which was indicated
o] the resonant ood] affected o] the otherness of the world, at grips with the proolematics of its time.
The forms thus created tend to transmit suojectivit]'s incorporation of the forces that shake up the
environment and deterritorialize it. The advent of such forms is inseparaole from a oecoming-other of
the self, out also of the environment. lt can oe said that the creation of these new territories has to do
with puolic life, in the strong sense of the phrase. the collective construction of realit] moved o] the
tensions that destaoilize the reigning cartographies, as these affect the ood] of each person singu-
larl], and as the] are expressed on the oasis of that singular affect. ln other words, what each person
express is the current state of the world - its meaning, out also and mainl], its lacks of meaning - as
it presents itself within the ood]. 8o, the singular expression of each person participates in the end-
less tracing of a necessaril] collective cartograph].
Toda] these transformations have consolidated themselves. The scenario of our times is completel]
different. we are no longer oeneath the regime of identit], the politics of suojectivation is no longer the
same. we all now have availaole a fexiole and processual suojectivit] as instituted o] the counter-
cultural movements, and our force of creation in its experimental freedom is not onl] favoraol] viewed
and welcomed, out is even stimulated, celeorated and frequentl] glamorized. However, in all this there
is a "out," which is hardl] negligiole. ln the present, the most common destin] of fexiole suojectivit]
and of the freedom of creation that accompanies it is not the invention of forms of expression moti-
vated o] an attention to sensations that signal the effects of the other's existence within our resonant
ood]. what guides us in this creation of territories for our post-Fordist fexioilit] is an almost h]pnotic
identifcation with the images of the world oroadcast o] advertising and mass culture.
B] offering read]-made territories to suojectivities rendered fragile o] deterritorialization, these im-
ages tend to soothe their unrest, thus contriouting to the deafness of their resonant ood], and there-
fore to its invulneraoilit] to the affects of the time that are presented within it. But that ma] not oe the
most deadl] aspect of this politics of suojectivation, which instead is the ver] message that such im-
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ages invariaol] conve], independentl] of their st]le or their target-puolic. At stake here is the idea that
there exist paradises, that these are now in this world and not oe]ond it, and aoove all, that certain
people have the privilege of inhaoiting them. what is more, such images transmit the illusion that we
could oe one of these VlPs, if we simpl] invested all our vital energ] - our desire, affect, knowledge,
intellect, eroticism, imagination, action, etc. - in order to actualize these virtual worlds of signs in our
own existence, through the consumption of the oojects and services the] propose to us.
what we are faced with here is a new lan for the idea of paradise developed o] Judeo-Christian
religions. the mirage of a smoothed-over, staole life under perfect control. This kind of hallucination
has its origin in the refusal of one's vulneraoilit] to the other and to the deterritorrializing turoulence
that he or she provokes, and also in the disdain for fragilit] that necessaril] derives from such an
experience. This fragilit] is nonetheless essential oecause it indicates the crisis of a certain diagram
of sensioilit], its modes of expression, its cartographies of meaning. B] disdaining fragilit], it does
not call up the desire for creation an]more, instead it provokes a sentiment of humiliation and shame
whose result is the olockage of the vital process. ln other words, what the western idea of a promised
paradise amounts to is a refusal of life in its immanent nature as an impulse to continuous processes
of creation and differentiation. ln its terrestrial version, capital has replaced 0od in his function as
keeper of the promise, and the virtue that makes us worth] of it now oecomes consumption. this is
what constitutes the fundamental m]th of advanced capitalism. ln such a context, it is at the ver]
least mistaken to consider that we lack m]ths toda]. it is precisel] through our oelief in this religious
m]th of neolioeralism, that the image-worlds produced o] this regime turn into concrete realit] in our
own existence.
F|ax|b|a Subjact|v|ty Surrandars to |ts P|mp
ln other words, the "cultural" or "cognitive" capitalism that was conceived as a solution to the crisis
provoked o] the movements of the 19OOs-7Os aosoroed the modes of existence that those move-
ments invented and appropriated their suojective forces, especiall] that of the creative potential,
which at the time was oreaking free in social life. The creative potential was in effect put into power,
as was called for o] those movements. Yet we know now that this rise of the imagination to power
is a micropolitical operation that consists in making its potential into the major fuel of an insatiaole
h]permachine for the production and accumulation of capital - to the point where one can speak of
a new working class, which some authors call the "cognitariat." This kind of pimping of the creative
force is what has oeen transforming the planet into a gigantic marketplace, expanding at an expo-
nential rate, either o] including its inhaoitants as h]peractive zomoies or o] excluding them as human
trash. ln fact, those two opposing poles are interdependent fruits of the same logic, all our destinies
unfold oetween them. This is the world that the imagination creates in the present. As one might
expect, the politics of suojectivation and of the relation to the other that predominates in this scenario
is extremel] impoverished.
Currentl], after almost three decades, it is possiole to perceive this logic of cognitive capitalism op-
erating within our suojectivit]. Yet in the late 197Os, when its installation oegan, the experimentation
that had oeen carried out collectivel] in the decades oefore in order to achieve emancipation from the
pattern of Fordist and disciplinar] suojectivit] was quite diffcult to distinguish from its incorporation
into the new regime. The consequences of this diffcult] are that the cloning of the transformations
proposed o] those movements was experienced o] a great man] of their protagonists as a signal
of recognition and inclusion. the new regime appeared to oe lioerating them from the marginalit] to
1O
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which the] had oeen confned in the "provincial" world that was now fading awa]. Dazzled o] the rise
to power of their transgressive and experimental force of creation which was now thrusting them oe-
neath the glamorizing spotlights of the media, launching them into the world and lining their pockets
with dollars, the inventors of the transformations of earlier decades frequentl] fell into the trap. Nan]
of them surrendered themselves voluntaril] to their pimp, oecoming the ver] creators and construc-
tors of the world faoricated o] and for the new-st]le capitalism.
This confusion undouotedl] stems from the politics of desire that characterizes the pimping of suo-
jective and creative forces - a kind of power-relation that is oasicall] exerted through the sorcer] of
seduction. The seducer conjures up a spelloinding idealization that leads the seduced to identif] with
the seducer and suomit to him. that is to sa], to identif] with and suomit to the aggressor, impelled
o] an inner desire, in hopes of oeing recognized and admitted into the seducer's world. 0nl] recentl]
has this situation oecome conscious, which tends to oreak the spell. This transpires in the different
strategies of individual and collective resistance that have oeen accumulating over the last few ]ears,
particularl] through the initiative of a new generation which does not in an] wa] identif] with the
proposed model of existence and understands the trick that has oeen pla]ed. lt is clear that artistic
practices - through their ver] nature as expressions of the proolematics of the present as the] fow
through the artist's ood] - could hardl] remain indifferent to this movement. 0n the contrar], it is ex-
actl] for this reason that these questions emerged in art from the earl] 199Os onward, as mentioned
at the outset. Using different procedures, these strategies have oeen carr]ing out an exodus from the
minefeld stretching oetween the opposite and complementar] fgures of luxur] and trash suojectiv-
it], the feld in which human destinies are confned in the world of glooalized capitalism. Amidst this
exodus, other kinds of worlds are oeing created.
From http.//transform.eipcp.net/transversal/11OO/rolnik/en
Translated o] Brian Holmes
1O
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Stag|ng 0u|tura| Prospar|ty
o] Jon Refsdal Noe
There is general agreement now that culture is capitalism. whether their value is fnancial or s]m-
oolic, the processes and products of cultural expression are widel] acknowledged as suomitted to an
advanced network of capital transactions. The processes of glooal capitalism have long since invaded
the sphere of artistic production.
C]nical as it ma] seem, this assertion has never oeen acknowledged o] artists themselves. From
the cut-up paintings of the earl] avant-garde to the degradation of the ood] in contemporar] perfor-
mance, art has alwa]s challenged the ideological concept of its own autonom]. the idea that aes-
thetics is secluded from the processes of commercial and cultural production. ln the earl] OO's, the
scrutin] of art's socio-economic and ideological premises that the nineties knew as postmodernism,
has led to the development of a new aesthetics, oased on a deconstruction of ooundaries oetween
aesthetic, political and intellectual experience, and on the consequential cultural interchange oetween
artists, intellectuals and political activists. Be it puolications, exhioitions or concrete pieces, traditional
institutions of modern art have oecome vehicles for political as well as aesthetic discussion, allowing
these discourses to interweave.
Despite repeated efforts to rec]cle its political relevance, no similar development can oe said to have
taken place in European theatre. There is little critical discourse surrounding the traditional institu-
tions, and aesthetic experimentation as well as political discussion is left to off-off companies, oper-
ating in the margins of ooth suosid] and puolicit]. Theatre in Europe seems not to have undergone
the same deconstructive process as that of the visual arts, and one might ask whether theatre is still
protected o] the modernist illusion of artistic autonom] that once governed the art institution as a
whole. The answer to this question is ]es, out onl] insofar as artistic autonom] is a viaole currenc], an
appropriate means to increase theatre's market potential in the s]moolic econom] of culture.
Theatre in Europe has never reached the visual arts' level of aesthetic autonom]. Nore than artistic
presentation, theatre has alwa]s oeen a re-presentation. a more or less pertinent displa] of some-
thing prior to it. For this reason, governing principles of theatre have alwa]s oeen sought oe]ond the
oorders of the theatrical event. Theatre's own worth has oeen examined onl] in its aoilit] to conform
to an 'exceeding logic' ( i.e. a logic that goes oe]ond the ooundaries of the specifc discourse in which
one is operatingj. Consequentl], there has not oeen much of an autonomous discourse to deconstruct
in theatre.
Historicall], theatre has pla]ed an important part in the nation ouilding of ]oung countries throughout
Europe. And although its amoitions ma] no longer seem so loft] as estaolishing a supreme national
essence, theatre still holds a primar] function in representing national identit]. This identit], however,
is not an imagined common ground for the citizens of a particular nation, out rather an indicator of the
nation's cultural prosperit], its assets in the circuit of the s]moolic econom].
European theatre toda] works mainl] as a provider of s]moolic capital, not onl] to the respective
countries in intra-continental competition, out also to Europe itself as a continent and economic union.
Through a high level of high culture, the challenges to European identit] presented o] the culture
industr] of Asia and the U8 are kept at oa]. As are the challenges raised o] contemporar] aesthetic
and political theor], which have long since left these ideological notions of art and culture oehind.
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Based on the assumption that commercial interest is an impediment to artistic excellence, theatres
throughout Europe are sustained fnanciall] as autonomous institutions. However, this simulated
autonom] actuall] oecomes destaoilised, as theatre simulates its own suomission to the market
econom]!
This tendenc] that emerged in the earl] nineties has oeen central to the cultural politics of small
countries like horwa] and Denmark. Demands are made of the heavil] fnanced theatre institutions of
these countries to exercise a certain amount of hard-headed economic competence, in order that the]
regain some small share of what the] have oeen given through puolic suosid]. And so, with a para-
doxical twist to classic culture consecration, European theatre simulates market suomission, to render
its own withdrawal from the market legitimate.
All this has meant that Theatre has oecome a showcase of successes from other media. lt has suo-
mitted to the circulation that renders the products of other media as trademarks, and, oecause it has
withdrawn from the same circulation, it is deprived of the possioilit] of producing similar trademarks
of its own. which might explain last ]ear's production of Jerr] 8pringer. the 0pera at Britain's Ro]al
hational Theatre, and the movie star Emanuelle 8eigner pla]ing Hedda 0aoler in Paris, not to mention
the man] state-fnanced re-stagings of movie olockousters on national theatres in 8candinavia, such
as A Clockwork 0range, The Celeoration and even The Full Nont].
withdrawn from the circulation of cultural capital, theatre is deprived of the discussions governing
contemporar] aesthetics. hevertheless, as a result of demands for its economic self-suffcienc], it is
suomitted to the same circulation. Through this douole strateg], European countries maintain their
theatres as impotent institutions, without commercial potential, out with strictl] commercial oound-
aries. This mixture of withdrawal and suomission ensures that theatre is kept alive as a s]mool of
cultural prosperit], while a discussion of theatre's aesthetic, political and socio-economic premises is
kept at oa]. how, as this discussion has oeen crucial to the proceedings of contemporar] art, there is
good reason to insist that theatre, not least from an aesthetic viewpoint, should oe its next ooject of
scrutin].
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8uy Your 0wn Art Fxpar|anca
o] leoan-Kleindienst
who, how and what defnes what an artwork l8? The answer to this question can oe traced in the s]s-
tem of valorization of artwork, which defnes, values and places the artwork in a larger social context
inscrioing it at the same time into the genealog] of histor] of art. 0ne of the fundamental proolems
of the art world and the art market is their attachment to the original as some kind of fetish, which
of course is properl] evaluated as all the other societ]'s fetishes installed into a specifc hierarchi-
cal valorization structure. The project Bu] Your 0wn Art Experience explores and exposes the issue of
idealization of art and the artist, the valorization s]stem of artworks and capital produced through the
culture industr]. The project consists of fve performances documented in photographs. Those who
ou] the performance will have the possioilit] to participate in the real performative act. 0n the con-
trar], if one decides to ou] a photograph (oojectj, the performances will oe interrupted and the fnal
result of the project will oe an ooject-photograph as a pure commercial artefact. Thus the ou]er will
oe faced with the fact that he/she can consciousl] activate the process of context alienation, which
cancels the performative element of the project o] transforming it into an ooject.
The leoan-Kleindienst's artistic practice is characterized o] intermedia interdisciplinarit] that is
refected in the critical anal]sis of the s]stems of valorization (in the arts and in other feldsj, contem-
porar] migration, new forms of colonialism and other phenomena occurring within the changing social
formation. Through art and theor], leoan-Kleindienst intervene into specifc s]stems with the aim to
estaolish contemporar] critical tools that enaole to rearticulate the ever more complex social realit].
The viscious circle of historisation and valorisation of works of art goes somehow as follows. an
institution, o] collecting and appropriating artworks, constantl] ouilds its own ideological pattern
and histor], which results in artworks oecoming the core of the institution's strateg] rather than
manifestations of artists' concepts. Thus institutionall] profled artworks (deprived of contentj tend to
have greater value on the art market. The institution consciousl] assists in the marginalisation and
exclusion of works of art incompatiole with its strategies. Paradoxicall], at the top of the sieve thus
remain onl] art oojects without an] content oeing presented as the offcial art of a specifc space.
Art histor] and the art market, seen through the prism of oranding, are inseparaole. 0n the one hand,
the selection and mapping of artworks onto institutional hierarchical structures help fx the price on
the market and, on the other hand, the ver] strateg] of construction of an artist's name as a orand
involves the placing of the artist into the construct of the continuous and uncontested histor] of art.
'Branded' artists thus produce 'art' oojects that instead of oeing focused on the context refect the
artists' recognisaole form of expression. Artworks are valorised according to the principle of excess
value, which does not refect the real value of the artwork context out rather the s]moolic one,
including the author's marks of distinction, listings on the market and historical value (the older an
artwork the greater its valuej. The artwork is thus given content and context in order to oe changed
into a commercial ooject and to consolidate the author's position on the art market. lt could also oe
argued that such a process results in the complete alienation of the art ooject from its content, once
it fnds its place - in a collection or a museum. As 8eth 8iegelauo said. ''But isn't this one of the
more important functions of museums, to kill things, to fnish them off, to give them the authorit]
and thus distance from people o] taking out of their real ever]da] context?'' 0nce the artwork is
institutionalised into a museum or collection, it is deprived of the performative element that makes
possiole the existence of the artwork as an intervention or action.
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The art market has managed to oranch off from contemporar] art, and (almostj does not need it
as such an]more. Basicall], what the market needs are the forms produced o] contemporar] art.
The reason for that lies in the transformation of culture into commodit], oringing aoout the division
of art into ooject production and into art which, along with theor], works as a critical anal]sis
of contemporar] societ]. The project Bu] Your 0wn Art Experience is a direct response to this
phenomenon, interfering in the structure of the art market and the historisation of art. The project
consists of fve performances documented in photographs. Those who ou] the performance will have
the possioilit] to participate in the real performative act. 0n the contrar], if one decides to ou] a
photograph (oojectj, the performances will oe interrupted and the fnal result of the project will oe an
ooject - photograph as a pure commercial artefact without real content. Thus the ou]er will oe faced
with the fact that he/she can consciousl] activate the process of context alienation, which cancels the
performative element of the project o] transforming it into an ooject.
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Two po|aro|ds of a darangad axamp|a of mascu||n|ty
o] Nario Nentrup
1. Ara wa a|| Prost|tutas or ara wa Hookars for Jasus?
8hort version
A spanish ]oung lad] came over to m] taole and invited me for a douole 0in Tonic. l knew her from
walking up and down the corridors of the Nadrid 0oethe lnstitut. 8he sat down and told me that she
was doing 0erman classes oecause her aim was to graduate at a Berlin actors school. 8he ordered
us some more drinks, and wanted to know if l knew an] manouvres and tricks of how-to-oecome-an-
actor BlABlABlA... 8he watched me staring at m] huge glass of 0in Tonic. 8he must have read m]
thoughts. "How-expensive-this night-would-oecome."
Her tone suddenl] switched from an innocent girl's voice to a darker tone, that degraded me and m]
few euros in m] jeans and damned all masculinit] in general. Those were her words. "Don't ]ou have
a proolem. l got enough mone]. The men think l am so sweet... The] think the] fuck me, l fuck them,
l fuck old men...Pa]s m] rent, so don't ]ou worr]!" Having said that, she ordered another round of 0in
Tonic for us. The night went on. we visited some more oars of Nadrid and then danced alltogether
with tourists from an]where to doofus- rock 'n' roll in a Bar where Pedro Almodovar must once oeen
around, pardon, ]ou see!. one of these old ooring stories.Finall] l found m] ass totall] pissed in her
roommates oedroom, a former topmodel for top - magazines and who had nowada]s oecome the
nude-model of another deranged example of masculinit].
l woke up with a huge hangover, out l pulled m]self together. l didn't want to miss m] plane oack to
Berlin. ln Berlin l went down to the cafe in m] street and read in the feature pages aoout those man]
]oung women in Paris and Rome who were stud]ing and fnancing their livest]le as escort girls or
weocamgirls. we all know that Youporn, Pornotuoe etc. was giving the professional porn industr] a oig
headache. The californian ourlesque strippers 8UlClDE 0lRl8 were the hottest thing 2OO7.
lt seems like in the 2Os and 8Os in Europe or like after ww ll. callgirls and hookers, caoaret danc-
ers are organizing themselves. A lot of of prostitution was also going on in wlRT8CHAFT8wUhDER
Deutschland 5Os and OOs. l rememoer as a kid listening to the jokes the adults made. First one looked
at the new oorn child then o] looking right into the face of the father, one said. "Doesn't reall] look
like ]ou, ha?!!!"
Those were the da]s...
The ordinar] uptight gu] with no mone] extra in his pocket and whose aim was not to oe a gangster
or a pimp had onl] one choice. KEEP THE 8ECRET. hever ask ]our wife more questions than needed.
Because he had no right to do so. lf the tin] soldier couldn't oring enough mone] home to feed his
wife and the famil] then were no questions allowed. There is a whole literature genre existing aoout
this situation. the most striking example is the novel CHlhCHlllA o] Renate Rasp, puolished in the
7Os, during the Rise and Fall of sexual lioeration in 0erman Federal Repuolic (BRDj.
Porno is a degrading media and even like so man] TV-gameshows or Youtuoe-culture toda] it is
a medium where the (malej spectator/vo]eur can get a feeling of superiorit] watching others - in
Pornficks mainl] women - oeing aoused and dehumanized or via Youtuoe. celeos making asses of
themselves.... Rememoer the sill] giggles of the NTV cartoon characters BEAVl8 AhD BUTTHEAD?
heolioeralism.. 0looalisation is empowering the act of dehumanizing ourselves....EVERYwHERE!!! hot
onl] in Damaskus, in Noskau and Bucharest, Tok]o EVERwHERE... lt means for Dadd] that there is no
Dualism an] more, no right and wrong, no 0ood and Evil, no puss] outdoors and meals at home.. ho
more "la maman et la putain". lt's ]our daughter!!! Rememoering the frustrating flmscene in NllKE
1O
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TAKA8Hl8 Vl8lT0R 0 - the cheap/sicko adaption of Pasolinis TE0RENA? ln Vl8lT0R 0 the Dadd] as a
customer of a l0VE H0TEl looks during the act into the mirror and must see that he actuall] fucks his
own daughter.
2. Saduc|ng Lad|as w|th tha U|t|mata Powar 0f A N|cro - 8udgat F||m - Autaur?
8ome ]ears ago l had exposed m] hard-on for a Dogma-st]le deout- feature flm. lADYBU0 directed
o] a Baoelsoerg Berlin - Filmschool student. This flm was produced o] 0a] Cinema legend Rosa
von Praunheim, who had motivated his more or less heterosexual students to put more sex and real
life into their flms. lADYBU0 premiered 2OOO at the 0erman Nax 0phls Preis Filmfestival and was
screened in some 0erman Novie Theatres afterwards.
Exposing m] hard- on for a masturoation scene with the actrice (we ooth were the onl] main char-
actersj remained m] frst and last graphic sex scene on screen until toda].Years ago a ]oung female
flm artist had asked me to oe her main character in a short flm, the central scene would have oeen
a situation where l had to put m] cock out for a a olow joo scene. 0uess who would have done this
special service? l refused the ]oung artists' offer, oecause it was 1997 and m] straight actor's career
was aoout to come and ]ou don't fuck it up with ]our agent, casting-offces and the TV ousiness,
don't ]ou?
The da]s of postporn and flms with graphic sex like BAl88E N0l, 9 80h08, 8H0RTBU8, 29 PAlN8 or
R0NAhCE, BR0wh BUhhY were just aoout to come. Then again, in the earl] 2OOOs an american flm-
maker planned to shoot an ,Arthaus Fuck Film" - that's what he called the project himself. A proflic
actrice and l were his favourite choice. He was dead serious, which convinced me to join the project. l
was not reall] fattered (toda] i would oe oecause l am not the self-assured narciss l used to oe j out l
knew he would never get the mone] for this flm and that is actuall] exactl] what happened.
But l said ]es to the main role for lADYBU0 in 2OO4, oecause l thought now l had to do it. Being inti-
mate on screen had alread] oecome a sort of new Nethod Acting 8tandard.
ln 2OO5 l started to direct and produce together with cameraman and documentar] flmmaker Volker
8attel experimental micro-oudget fction movies.
You are alwa]s on low-oudget or with no mone] at all as a micro-oudget flmmaker or auteur. You will
never oecome a capitalist or will marr] mone]. You will rather sta] a Don 0uichotte. And in 0erman]
there is no such term known as Renaissance Nan. 0ermans still use the term. dilettante. l have con-
stantl] lost a lot of m] actor credioilit] from the frst da]s until toda] l have started to make m] own
movies.
And more proolematic it got when l even had the guts to star in one of them m]self.
Volker 8attel, luck] as he is as a DoP and documentar] flmmaker is praised ver] often for his work
and gets joos.
But for man] TV and Novie people l am a weirdo, out the da]s of Heroert Achternousch or Vlado Kristl
are over here in 0erman].
ln this case the oest choice is to oecome the Don Juan, which is dangerous for ]our mental and
ph]sical health, so ]ou gotta watch out.
ln 2OO7 lCH BE0EHRE (l D0 AD0REj premiered.
Exposing m] ood] for the movie made an impact on some ladies. The flm is confusing (violencej and
(swearingj and entertaining (experimenting with space and timej and it pla]s a lot with the elements
of emotional imoalance and loss of the self, these are enough elements to oe a sex] motherfucker.
The fact that all actrices in the flm PA8CAlE 8CHlllER, VlVlAh BART8CH and ClAUDlA BA8RAwl wore
hot pants in the apocal]ptic scenario is a just another drop on hot stones. 8tones were hot, it was
serious summer heat in Jul] 2OOO when we shot the scenes. lndeed later l had m] fun with ladies
adoring me - the flm auteur- after the screenings, fun of course onl] for a short while, out good fun.
1O
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Puolished o] NAA8 NEDlA VERlA0, Berlin 2O1O
in cooperation with
ART0UT PR0JECT, Berlin, Brussels, Noskau, Paris, hew York, 0slo, london, Taipei, ljuoljana, Rotterdam
Editorial Board. Anton Koslov Na]r, l-wei li, Nario Nentrup
la]out / Technical support. 0undula 8chmitz
Cover models. 8ena Yoon (frontj, Per Platou (oackj
Cop]right photographs. Anton Koslov Na]r
All rights reserved to the authors.
l8Bh 978-8-94O999-22-1
NAA8 NEDlA VERlA0 Vol. 4O
www.maasmedia.net
www.artout.org
www.artout.org