Participan: A-153167 (Anibal Lopez), David Brooks, Martin John Callanan, Nemanja Cvijanovic, Detext, Caleb Larsen, Liz Magic Laser, Julien Previeux, Daniel Seiple & Kunst Re-Publik, Katarina Sevic, Santiago Sierra, Nedko Solakov, Nikola Uzunovski y otros.
Curaduría: Raúl Martínez y Marco Antonini

Entendiendo el arte como otra forma de intercambio, esta exposición explora los procesos invisibles, errores de cálculo deliberados y verdades encubiertas del modelo de producción capitalista. En un momento en que este discurso parece incuestionable, Transacciones ahonda precisamente en las contradicciones y fisuras de nuestro modelo económico, convirtiéndolas en un espacio de trabajo y lucha política.

Los artistas incluidos en esta muestra cuestionan la “lógica” que gobierna los procesos económicos, exponiendo los límites legales y éticos del actual modelo neoliberal a través de lagunas legales y vacíos institucionales. Conscientes de las dificultades de evadir las estructuras económicas, muchos de ellos las adoptan como su hábitat natural y campo de batalla.

Transactions, Centro Cultural de España en Guatemala, La Ciudad de Guatemala

A selection of visual documentation taken of the installation Make the Living Look Dead as part of the touring exhibition Again, A Time Machine at Spike Island, Bristol.

Includes my works Letters 2004-2006 and All the people who have ever lived, and will ever live

We have seen a vast number of requests to find out information about issues which really do add value to people’s lives, or to the sum of human knowledge, or to research. And making a positive contribution to the quality, accuracy and completeness of public debate. This is exactly why we brought in this legislation.

However, it is also true, inevitably, that this culture is being undermined by requests under the Act which arguably do not impact so positively – like what a central government department spends on toilet paper or make-up, or whether written proof can be provided under the Act of a Minister’s existence.

Responsible users of the Act and supporters of the legislation would surely agree that these sorts of requests are frivolous, and sometimes even vexatious, and that spending time answering them is not how public resources ought to be used.

The Information Commissioner has made his position abundantly clear. He has said that claims that are ‘manifestly unreasonable’ should be resisted under section 14 of the Act – claims which would serve no public good or impose substantial burdens on the financial and human resources of public authorities.

My department will be issuing guidance complementing that from the Information Commissioner, to help public authorities handle these types of requests.

I don’t believe this is a concern in terms of requests from the academic community – but it is a serious issue for the operation of Freedom of Information as a whole.

On 1 January 2008, letters were posted to companies who’s products were present at my London residence. The letters, addressed to the chief executive, stated, “Your products are of use“. Replies, and full list of companies, recorded here.

Letters 2004-2006 shown in ABPP loan exhibition at the Library, AKI (ArtEz) Enschede, The Netherlands, 15th January – 15th April 2008

Rumor has it the ICA Bookshop has several copies of Letters 2004-2006

By the way, and here I open a parenthesis, one of the pleasures of the Chairmanship is to receive all kinds of mail, some less related to the OSCE than others, some funnier than others. At the very beginning of 2006, I received a letter that I promised myself I would share with you in due course.

It is from a certain Mr. Martin John Callanan in London. I have no clue who this chap is or what his connection to the OSCE might be. His letter reads very simply: “Dear Chairman, I respect your authority.” Wonderful! How did the chap get this into his mind, I truly wondered! It seemed like a promising start to me, but I can assure you, it only inspired a short and wild dream, nothing more. I did not divulge it early in this Chairmanship. I feared I might be misunderstood.

The full speech as PDF

…The desperate dryness and bureaucracy of the responses from Buckingham Palace through the Houses of Parliament contain a kind of residual melancholy, with the entities compelled by law to respond to a request that is effectively meaningless. I think what’s beautiful about his work is the utter blankness of the statements or questions he employs – there’s a kind of monosyllabic theatre to them, which seems far from the extended or baroque forms of letter-writing, video and telephone pranksterism we’re more or less drowning in these days…

read the full review

ThisNext users will find Letters 2004-2006 online