Material value of a work of art – how to estimate the value of it and who does it? The exhibition and performance-lecture are hiding behind the name of the ‘75.000 – the Value of a Work of Art’ project by the author and artist Luka Kulić.
The project will be implemented in the Svilara Cultural Station on 29 September from 8 p.m., and audience will have a chance to follow the event via official Facebook pages of Svilara Cultural Station, Kaleidoscope of Culture, Novi Sad 2021 and Cultural Station.
The author wants to reassess the value of a single work of art in the context of conditions in which artists live, create and work, and, as he said, the starting point was the ‘Artists. Now!’ Public Call itself, within which he was awarded the grant.
‘One of the several artistic practices is the reaction of an artist to reality, in this case, I comment the value of financial support for artists in the amount of RSD 75,000 in the context of common undetermined value of an artistic work’, said Kulić and added that the financial value of a work of art and art market have always been blurry and numerous (sometimes random) factors affect it and that it does not function within clearly established rules.
He believes that ‘clearly determined financial value of a work of art does not exist, it is always a consequence of demand and willingness of someone who wants to buy particular work of art’.
Within the ‘75.000 – the Value of a Work of Art’ project, Luka will deal with the topic of setting the value of art within two segments. First, the author will present reflexive work of art that consists of elements that determine the value of a work of art to the audience via social media, which will be followed by the performance-lecture on the topic afterwards.
‘It is about one picture, as maybe the most common and most popular arts media in visual art, that will encourage the dialogue about what is the value of contemporary art and work of art, through reflexive artistic idea and content. The idea is to produce serious work of art under conditions of the call – small value funds and tight deadline for the implementation, the value of which we will try to determine in improvised conditions in a restrictive way of measuring, if we manage to sell it at all’, said Kulić.
In your opinion, what are the possibilities that the European Capital of Culture title can offer to the artists in Novi Sad? Within the context of your project, can the title increase the value of artistic works of Novi Sad artists?
‘This is a complex question since it lies between general goals and expected results of the project on the one hand, and some reality we live in, on the other. Having in mind that we perceive culture and art in general in a quite different way, the period after the title year will show to which extent the project have had significant impact on culture. Possibilities (above all financial) do exist, but they are not equally available to everyone, and there is considerable dissatisfaction in the field of culture concerning the project of the capital of culture title and the way in which the programme is implemented. The project of the capital of culture title itself cannot influence the value of a work of art since it does not deal with it in particular. If it was one of the main goals of the project from the beginning, and if there was a serious structure of activities founded on real social – economic frameworks, maybe we could achieve some results in this field. My project is rather an instant artistic reaction than an attempt to have the influence. There are too many factors that determine the value of a work of art, rather than a single small project’, said Luka Kulić.
The ‘75.000 – the Value of a Work of Art’ project is one of the 22 projects that received funds within the ‘Artists. Now!’ public call of the ‘Novi Sad 2021 – European Capital of Culture’, aimed at strengthening local cultural scene, raising its capacities through a network of cultural stations, decentralisation of culture and audience development.
