The new art economy

#68: Once in a while we need to get out of utopia and get something done.|#25: Never ask the artist to just present their work, ask them to co-create and co-organise the space.|#23: That’s a very interesting piece, but how would it behave in a pizza joint?|#81: Things come alive when there is friction.|#54: What about disabled artists?|#57: Volunteers must be: cared for / hands on / ready to learn / willing to share / in it to win it / show new or old tricks.|#92: We’re a learning organisation.|#70: Have the office space inside the exhibition space, it reminds of you what you are doing.|#29: We make the program for the artist that we exhibit.|#53: Immaterial support for artists is important.|#30: Don’t work with artists who are assholes.|#99: Evolve according to changing needs.|#119: Be a space of production.|#130: Be a uniquely charged and curated gallery that is an artwork in itself.|#112: Spaces today don’t need to be curated, but occupied.|#89: Build-in impurity within the organisation.|#21: Live with the exhibition, spend time with it.|#2: Bring something new to the city of Ghent.|#98: The success of it will not lie in the result but in the process.|#105: Kunsthal Gent is local in scale, but globally connected.|#3: Entrance to all exhibitions at Kunsthal Gent is free.|#10: Don’t be obsessed with numbers.|#60: Look after all tools. The moment it looks like things are missing it means that things are missing.|#84: The White Cube is a lie.|#36: We support production separately.|#68: Once in a while we need to get out of utopia and get something done.|#25: Never ask the artist to just present their work, ask them to co-create and co-organise the space.|#23: That’s a very interesting piece, but how would it behave in a pizza joint?|#81: Things come alive when there is friction.|#54: What about disabled artists?|#57: Volunteers must be: cared for / hands on / ready to learn / willing to share / in it to win it / show new or old tricks.|#92: We’re a learning organisation.|#70: Have the office space inside the exhibition space, it reminds of you what you are doing.|#29: We make the program for the artist that we exhibit.|#53: Immaterial support for artists is important.|#30: Don’t work with artists who are assholes.|#99: Evolve according to changing needs.|#119: Be a space of production.|#130: Be a uniquely charged and curated gallery that is an artwork in itself.|#112: Spaces today don’t need to be curated, but occupied.|#89: Build-in impurity within the organisation.|#21: Live with the exhibition, spend time with it.|#2: Bring something new to the city of Ghent.|#98: The success of it will not lie in the result but in the process.|#105: Kunsthal Gent is local in scale, but globally connected.|#3: Entrance to all exhibitions at Kunsthal Gent is free.|#10: Don’t be obsessed with numbers.|#60: Look after all tools. The moment it looks like things are missing it means that things are missing.|#84: The White Cube is a lie.|#36: We support production separately.|

Pay What You Can:
The new art economy

PAY WHAT YOU CAN: THE NEW ART ECONOMY
curated by Grace Ndiritu

Friday 6 December
Kunsthal Gent

Part 1: 5 pm - 7 pm: PWYC workshop - 30 places, please register here!
Part 2: 8 pm - 10pm: PWYC talks and discussion - no registration needed, all welcome

PAY WHAT YOU CAN: THE NEW ART ECONOMY
As resources dwindle in the world, arts funding is the first to be cut. Grace Ndiritu proposes that as an act of solidarity, PAY WHAT YOU CAN could become The New Art Economy. With the current economic pressure that individual artists, non-profit institutions, art schools, small and mid-size commercial galleries are facing, it is increasingly important to find new economic and social strategies to survive and prosper. How could PAY WHAT YOU CAN become a sustainable reality? This timely event offers a chance for art professionals, art students and the general public to come together to learn about new economic models and debate this complex issue.

PART 1: Friday 6 December, 5 pm - 7 pm
PWYC workshop: THE NEW ART ECONOMY
- Short introduction by artist Grace Ndiritu on her PAY WHAT YOU CAN project Coverslut, followed by a PAY WHAT YOU CAN meditation ritual
- Working group sessions for solidary PAY WHAT YOU CAN solutions
30 places - please register here!

PART 2: Friday 6 December, 8 - 10 pm
PWYC case studies: talks and discussion
London-based artist Kathrin Bohm talks about her 'Centre for Plausible Economics' and her use of different economic models in the art in her different projects like 'Company Drinks'. Curator Ryan Hughes talks about the Coventry Biennale (2019) and the use of PWYC in its economic model in this year's biennale. Moderated by Grace Ndiritu. In English, all welcome!

Speakers Biographies
Grace Ndiritu
COVERSLUT© is a fashion and economic research project from Grace Ndiritu founded in 2018. It focuses on dealing with issues of race, gender and class politics and incorporates Capitalist, PAY WHAT YOU CAN and Ethical/Environmental strategies into its economic framework. The first edition of the project was completed in association with Manoeuvre artists-run textile studio, Ghent. To date COVERSLUT© Pop-Up Stores and events have taken place at Minus One, Ghent (2019); Poppositions artfair, Brussels (2019); Eastside Projects, UK (2018); De Koer, Ghent (2018 & 2019), collection available at Contemporary Art Gallery, Vancouver (2018) & Wiels Art Centre, Brussels (2019). Furthermore, Ndiritu's use of PAY WHAT YOU CAN as an act of solidarity in her own art practice has already influenced several art institutions including Eastside Projects, Birmingham, Kunsthal Gent and Coventry Biennale 2019 - to adopt a Pay What You Can policy inspired by her ideas on institutional critique and structural change.

Ryan Hughes
Ryan Hughes is an artist/curator from the West Midlands (UK). He is particularly interested in collaborative and participatory practices, online cultures and what has been described as the "post-internet". He has worked extensively in artist-led, institutional and non-art spaces including MK Gallery, ICA London, Vivid Projects and A3 Project Space as well as with local authorities and universities. In 2017 he founded Coventry Biennial, a new model for an artist- led and social biennial which has contributed to the city's status as UK City of Culture 2021.

Kathrin Bohm
Kathrin Böhm is a London based artist whose collaborative work focuses on the collective (re-)production of public space, trade as public realm and the everyday as a starting point for culture. Kathrin is a founding member of the artist political initiative Keep it Complex - Make it Clear (KIC), the Centre for Plausible Economies and arts enterprise Company Drinks in 2014.

06.12.2019 20:00

Curated by Grace Ndiritu, with Ryan Hughes and Kathrin Böhm

Pay what you can

Pay What You Can:
The new art economy