Auction Action – Commission an Artwork
Above: Auction Action – commission an artwork, the artwork commissioned for Transformations: Actions to Matter / Matter to Actions. Click to view more.
NOTE: Within the Transformations website the artwork’s actions can be viewed here and the artwork can be viewed here.
Auction action – commission an artwork, listed on eBay as ART, LIMITED EDITION, PRINT | Auction action – commission an artwork #exstrange, were transformative actions that occurred within the context of the networked performance Transformations: Actions to Matter / Matter to Actions. Transformative actions within Transformations attempt to source items for free online and then sell them online. Actions that are performed online are considered to occur within a ‘virtual’ or digital context. Items that are acquired as a result of actions are physically manifested in ‘real’ contexts. A transformation therefore occurs from ‘virtual’ to ‘real’ and then back to ‘virtual’ again. The internet is both a staging ground for initiating transformation as well as the final destination for the items acquired and the documentation produced.
In Auction action, the actions consisted of an eBay auction to commission an artwork. The auction winner became the commissioner of the artwork. Their details and details of the auction were used by the artist to inform and conceive of the artwork. The artist however did not produce the artwork. Instead he utilised the amount paid by the auction winner to employ services through eBay to produce and customise items assembled as an artwork. Through this process the artist performs as an intermediary who connects and negotiates between the auction winner and eBay service providers. The actions and artwork produced are wholly based on the auction, its outcome and the site-specificity of eBay as a space for networked performance.
Above: Auction Action – commission an artwork, screenshots of the actions taken to create the artwork. Click to view more.
The artwork produced was a dye-sublimation print on aluminium with circular sticker. The aluminium print’s design was created by the artist. It consisted of a collaged combination of text and imagery including the auction winner’s username, a photograph used as their profile banner and a word integrated into a phrase that has a particular meaning to them. The aluminium print was next commissioned from an eBay seller. A sticker design was copied from a different eBay seller, modified and ordered from a third eBay seller. Once received from eBay the aluminium print and sticker were assembled.
During the creation of the artwork evidence of the actions, that is all steps involved in the creation of the work, were recorded through screenshots. These, along with a photograph of the artwork, were added to the Transformations web-based documentary archives. The auction winner received a signed limited edition print 1/1 of the artwork’s photograph with a certificate of authenticity that links via QR code to the artwork’s webpage. This enables a connection to be maintained back to the artwork’s documentation and the actions that produced it, which will continue to update while Transformations is ongoing. Similar to all items acquired for Transformations the artwork will ultimately be sold online within a later series of auctions that complete the Transformations performance.
Auction Action – Commission an Artwork was curated as part of #veryhardtofind by guest curator Gaia Tedone within the project #exstrange curated by Marialaura Ghidini and Rebekah Modrak.