Marta's WWH
Modern Art Desserts
what? Modern Art Desserts is a work conceived by Silverado collective; an installation and performance realized during Supermarket Art Fair in Stockholm in 2015. During the 5-days event, we were presenting works of famous 20th century artists in form of confectionary objects. In an usual fair booth we set up a long, pretty high, white, minimalistic counter, its shape was in keeping both with a gallery desk and a confectionary. On one edge of the counter there was a glass vitrine where the works were shown. On the other edge a stand with a menu for a precise day and a brief introduction to the project. Behind the counter there were three people, serving he cakes, chatting with visitors, explaining the importance of this specific work of art in terms of its aesthetic and historic value and talking about the Silverado collective. Everyday one could get to know about the crucial features, as well as taste two different works of art (among others: Mondrian, Lichtenstein, Manzoni, Rothko) The performers were two girls and a boy and they represented our collective. They were wearing elegant, minimal, designing clothes and acting distinctly.
how? Our project was mimicking the commercial art fair. In order to do so, we were aiming to be as professional as we could be in terms of fulfilling the standards of a professional presentation situation. That's the reason for hiring the performers, designing clothes for them, collaborating with a fancy confectionary in Stockholm ecc. At the same time it was all about playing with this conventions, having fun and creating a situation of dialogue, coexistence, a space of gathering and discussion - the performers were playing a role, apart from serving cakes, of a medium, they were actively participating, interrupting and conducting the conversations. Through visual affinity to both pro. gallery and a confectionary, we were trying to situate ourselves within this context - we believe it's the only possibility to be critical (and critical for us means more posing questions then criticizing).
why?
Modern Art Desserts was a situation-specific work and was conceived and designed especially for the occasion of this particular fair. We didn't want to present any preexisting artworks, rather create an ephemeral situation of coexistence, which at the same time would correspond with the idea of the fair. Supermarket Art Fair is a platform that gathers independent galleries, artist run spaces across the world; yet at the same time the format itself mimics the commercial fair. Our aim was to critically and collectively reflect on this phenomena and pose questions rather then use this platform to present "the highlights" of our initiative. We hired three actors to represent us in order to push further the "play" and we thought they must be professional, rhetorically skilled, good looking and knowledgeable in terms of art.