Berlin could not afford an art hall for contemporary art, now the Deutsche Bank opens one here. And under the slogan Macht Kunst (Make Art) called for delivering pictures to them, to be all shown for 24 hours. In the revolution of 1848, the central art instance and institution (the Salon) was opened for all. Then, a crisis of these institutions began, with counter-salons and the independent pavilion at the world exhibition of Courbet. This means, once an equality of access conditions for the artists was established (Salon in the revolution), later an equality was lived out in the market (multiplicity of exhibitions in the 1860s). In the 20th century came the failed counter-movements (Surrealism, Dada, Lettrism, Situationism, Fluxus, Happening …), with at the end an altermodernity, that needs the artist only as unpaid interns for the art event and has finally driven the market competition to its heights: In 2013, the German bank also explicitly invites art lovers (the call is addressed to them, and to artists, photographers, students, …) to deliver canvases. But the restriction on canvases shows already, it’s an art event, it’s not about the unpaid interns in the queue, but the curator is the artist, he is the only one who has really entered into a relationship with the bank. It is an approbiation of the modes of street art, all may participate as long as they find a place, and as long as their work is suitably flat to hang on a wall. The abolition of the critical scientific institutionalization, the rush of competition, means no one gets taken seriously as artists, but gets hurried together with hobbyists. The reformed art institution reforms the artist identity.
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