FRONT DESK / BACK Office

The secret world of galleries in xxx candid pictures and two texts.

There’s something not quite the past five years, but allready right about commercial galleries. since the 1990s I look at the They are a kind of schizophrenic back rooms – the other side of space. On the one hand they the art machine – and became explicitly present things with an obsessed by the understatement intellectual and immaterial val- of the façades, the messy, clut- ue, while on the other hand it is tered desks in the small galleries clear that one could eventually and the cold professionalism of possess these things; the expe- the major players’ offices, and, rience has a price tag attached. above all, the uniformity of the They represent two different re- design. They all have the same alities or systems: the discourse MacBooks and iMacs, the same and the market. The discourse desk lamp by Michele de Lucchi is more at home in art institu- and the same designer furniture tions and artist- and curator-run by Charles & Ray Eames, Arne spaces, where looking at art is Jacobsen and Dieter Rams. not corrupted by finance. Selling Have you ever taken a good is, of course, the commercial look at the front desks? It was gallery’s main function, but the at Air de that I first saw a discourse is equally important. gallery position its office partly It is for this reason that looking as a front desk in the midst of and buying are kept apart and the . That might have that these activities take place been a statement of openness, in two discrete spaces. In the but perhaps more so a con- white cube one looks at the art scious staging of openness. and talks about the artist’s in- tentions and the position of the More and more galleries seem work within the discourse. Talk to be testing the boundaries be- of money is taboo here. That tween non-profit and the market takes place in the back rooms. – whether out of genuine interest or as part of a clever image, or The documentary photographs both. But artist- and curator-run in this book were taken during spaces are also edging towards that boundary from the other a period of five years – mostly simply about envy or sensa- Good Art – The Swiss Issue and direction. They call themselves without permission. The names tion seeking. But it has also found in his writing a context for an artist-run ‘profit’ space or of the galleries and a list of the simply become a marketing my photographs. In exchange for a Produzentengalerie and so artists they represent can be strategy: a style called ‘reality’. two of the photographs, Velthuis position themselves in the mar- found at the back of the book. It is now therefore even more has written a special adapta- ket, whereas the art fairs, with I adopt a hit-and-run method interesting to see how a gal- tion of his text under the title: their vast budgets and parallel in making these documentary lery stage-manages its back ‘Separating the Sacred from the programming look increasingly photographs. I took them all with rooms. What do they look like? Profane: the front and the back like biennales. The new style of the wonderful point-and-shoot Is the door open, ajar, or shut of a contemporary art gallery’. gallery has, at the every least, analogue Yashica T4 camera tight as in the galleries in a project space or incubator with Carl Zeiss Tessar 3.5/35 ? Is there a front desk Rob Hamelijnck, May 2010 where young, inexperienced lens, the same one that Terry or a semi-public back room, artists can show experimen- Richardson uses. The idea of which fulfils and displays some tal work. And those that have ‘observing and recording my own of the functions of the real back truly understood the market cultural group and habitat’ be- room. And if so, which ones? mechanism have a residency gan in 1997/98 when I saw the programme and run a ‘discursive films of Jean Rouch and David I asked my friend, the French space’ with evening screenings, MacDougall at a documentary architect Thibaut de Ruyter to lectures and debates. They dis- film festival. It was Jean Rouch interpret the photographs with guise themselves as artist-run in particular who made me aware an eye to the galleries’ style, spaces or art institutions. There that art, just like documentary architecture and design. He has are some that also publish a film or visual anthropology, written the text ‘A Suit Does magazine and artists’ books and could be a subjective form of Not Make a Man, But it Helps’ have their own bookshop. I know research: that making art is a about gallerists’ preference of one gallery – the largest and visual activity through which for modernist design classics. most fashionable in São Paulo you can critically question real- I asked the Dutch sociologist – that, alongside all the afore- ity and that the facts can mean and journalist Olav Velthuis, mentioned, also has a high- anything you want them to. who has undertaken years of class restaurant and rents out research into the relationship studios. It looks increasingly as In the meantime the interest between art and money, to in- if the large commercial galleries in the context and background clude the sections on ‘The Front are the new small museums or of the ‘unique’ and the decon- Room’ and ‘The Back Room’ centres for contemporary art. struction of myths is no longer from the first chapter – ‘The restricted to art; the popular Architecture of the Art Market’ Front Desk / Back Office media also has a fascination – of his book Talking Prices. Its brings together a selection with the ‘backstage’ and ‘the central question is: how do deal- of candid photographs of the making of’. In some cases this ers price contemporary art in a front desks and back rooms of is about institutional critique or world where objective criteria galleries in Amsterdam, Berlin, empowerment, in other cases seem absent? I bought it in 2008 Copenhagen, São Paulo and unmasking and establishing when we were living in Zurich Zurich, which I have taken over the truth, and sometimes it is and doing research for Fucking Separating the Sacred from the Profane: the front and the back of a contemporary art gallery

Olav Velthuis

Adapted from: Talking Prices. Symbolic meanings of prices on the market for contemporary art (Princeton University Press, 2005)

Introduction In his classical work The Elementary Forms of Religious Life (1912), the French sociologist Emile Durkheim argued that every religion is based on the same principle: a radical separation of the sacred and the profane. Durkheim observed that every society prevents some goods from entering the everyday sphere of the profane, and in particular from treating these goods in terms of calculation and rationalisation. It is this radical separation, he argued, that ‘constitutes the essence of their sacred character’ (Durkheim 1914 [1964]), p. 335-336). To understand how the market for contemporary art operates, this Durkheimian distinction between the sacred and the profane is highly insightful. On the one hand, the art gallery’s world is a profane, capi- talist world. Like any other commercial enterprise, a gallery has to find art works that it deems marketable, it needs to attract potential customers, and make sales in order to keep its doors open. Also, in case the dealer depends on the income of others to run its operation, if it has loans or private inves- tors (so-called ‘backers’), it will need to hold itself accountable to these parties. In order to do so, the about artistic values, and speculators who see art dealer needs to negotiate with the artist about con- as a mere addition to their financial portfolios. tractual issues, he needs to determine a price for the works he offers for sale, and, if a collector is inter- Front room ested, he may need to bargain harshly over this price The separation between the sacred and the before the work is eventually sold. Afterwards, the profane can also be retrieved physically in the dealer will try to keep track of the art works, not only architecture of the art gallery: almost invariably, regarding its whereabouts, but also with respect to its a shop window is absent, while it is impossible in future economic value. In order to do so, he may pay many cases to view the inside of the gallery from attention to what appears at auction, to the work’s the outside because of the use of opaque, frosted pre-sale estimate, and the final price it is sold for. glass windows or because of thin curtains behind At the same time, however, dealers are enmeshed the windows. Neon signs or signboards that most in a sacred world, where art is seen as an object other retail stores have are absent, while some gal- that is essentially non-commodifiable, where the leries only display their name in small letters next to only appropriate discourse is aesthetic or critical, the entrance door. This entrance door gives access where plain commerce is considered taboo, and to the main exhibition space in smaller galleries, dealers instead claim to be ‘playing for history’, while visitors to larger galleries may need to pass as one of them put it when I was studying the New through a small hall or corridor before accessing the York and Amsterdam art market in the late 1990s. exhibition. Much like in the classical, nineteenth- This simultaneous existence in two worlds whose century design of art museums, this passage serves logics are opposed, has historically shaped the to disconnect the world of art from everyday life. art dealer’s business repertoire. As a result, this Inside, the most intricate symbolic attempt to business repertoire is structured along a series separate art from commerce, is a division between of Durkheimian oppositions: between the sacred the front and the back of the gallery. The front of the and the profane, between art and commerce, be- gallery contains, depending on the size of the gal- tween the marketable and the non-marketable. lery, one or more exhibition spaces. These spaces Art galleries, in short, attempt to preserve the have concrete or wooden floors (carpets are hardly sacred character of contemporary art by separat- ever used), white walls without ornamentation, no ing it from the commercial aspects of their trade. furnishing, and fluorescent or bright halogen lights, On the art market, this separation of the sacred and whose fixtures resemble those of construction sites. the profane can be seen at different levels. For in- The minimal decoration, absence of furniture, and stance, it manifests itself in the clear-cut separation lighting of the gallery space create an atmosphere between so-called avant-garde and a commercial that reinforces the autonomy of the art works on circuit within the market, between ‘sacred’ galleries display, and keeps commerce at bay (Moulin 1967 and ‘profane’ auction houses, between the primary [1987], p. 154; Troy 1996, p. 113). The uniformity of and the secondary market operations of the gallery, this basic structure of the gallery space is striking. It or between ‘real’ collectors who care exclusively can be seen not only in art capitals such as London, Berlin, Amsterdam or New York, but also in avant- space, the absence of price tags was the subject of garde galleries located in small towns throughout the a legal dispute in the late 1980s. In 1988 the New Western world. The minimalist, austere architectural York City Government decided to enforce the ‘Truth language links avant-garde gallery spaces on the in pricing law’ for art galleries, which they had been one hand to the non-commercial world of museums exempted from since the early 1970s. According and on the other hand to the commercial world of to Consumer Affairs commissioner Angelo Aponte, luxury commodities. Indeed, one of the well-known people are entitled to buy art ‘without being subject architects of gallery spaces, Richard Gluckman of to the vagaries of mystery, theater and snobbery.’ As the architectural firm Gluckman Mayner Architects, a consequence of the decision, all galleries had to who designed the gallery spaces of renowned ‘conspicuously display’ prices ‘by means of a stamp, New York art dealers such as Paula Cooper, Mary tag or label attached to the item or by a sign at the Boone, Luhring Augustine, Andrea Rosen and Larry point of display’. Protests against the decision were Gagosian, has also designed retail spaces of well- fierce in the art world; conservative art critic Hilton known luxury boutiques such as Helmut Lang, Yves Kramer argued in that this Saint Laurent, Gianni Versace, and Katayone Adeli, law would turn galleries into ordinary retail stores. as well as museum spaces for the Andy Warhol Adding fuel to ‘financial voyeurism’, the law would Museum in Pittsburgh, the Dia Foundation in New make money and the ‘consciousness of money’ even York, and the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum in Santa Fe. more important in the art world than it already was. Inside the front room, price tags next to individual Galleries themselves protested by arguing that their art works, a cash register or a device for electronic function was not only to sell art but also to show it: payment are conspicuously absent. When a work their exhibitions, as galleries pride themselves in, has been sold, it is not removed from the exhibition are open to the public without a fee. Because price (which would result in awkward situations in the not would get in the way of the visitor’s enjoyment of uncommon case that all works of art are sold before the exhibition, many art dealers refused to obey the exhibition even opens), but a small sticker may the ‘Truth in Pricing Law’. Nineteen violators ended be put on a price list of the works that are exhibited. up paying $200 fines. Ronald Feldman, owner of Although these lists are frequently lying on the desk an established SoHo gallery, faced a $4,000 fine located in the back or on the side of the exhibition when he refused to pay these fines in principle out of disagreement with the law. In the end, however,  Gluckman is not the only architect who masters this symbolic triangle of boutiques, museums and galleries. The Dutch archi-  Douglas C. McGill, ‘Art Galleries Told to Post Prices’, The tect Rem Koolhaas for instance, who designed the gallery space New York Times, 10.2.1988; Hilton Kramer, ‘The Case Against of Lehmann Maupin in Chelsea, is famous for his design of the Price Tags’, The New York Times, 20.3.1988; ‘NYC to Art Rotterdam Kunsthal, a non-profit, museum-like exhibition space Dealers: Post Prices or Else’, Art in America, April 1988, p. 232; without a collection of its own, but also for his Prada Shop in Dwight V. Gast, ‘Pricing New York Galleries’, Art in America, SoHo, New York. See Raul A. Barreneche, ‘Building a Specialty July 1988, p. 86-87. Auction houses are usually more explicit in Art’, Architecture, 85 (11), 1.11.1996; Eve MacSweeney, about prices and price estimates. Even they, however, usually ‘Making the Scene’, www.onemedia.com, February/March 2001. abstain from mentioning the title and maker of an art work when Fred A. Bernstein, ‘Post Prada, A Design Star Slims Down’, The they publish selling prices of art works after the sale. Instead, New York Times, 24.4.2003. the information they provide is limited to the lot number of the the government dropped the issue, so that at the end front, most visible and museum-like part of the gal- of the century, when I was conducting my research, lery suppresses any references to the commercial prices of expensive art works in particular were avail- function of the gallery, the backroom, by contrast, is able only on request; in some cases, assistants would constructed as a commercial space; in other words, not even be willing to mention prices on request, art and commerce are juxtaposed physically in the saying that the works ‘had not been priced yet’. architecture of the modern gallery. In some cases, the back is sealed off from the front room hermetically, Back room suggesting that the exhibition space is all there is to White cubes, as the austere gallery spaces have the gallery. Other gallery owners allow the public at come to be referred to, have provoked a wide range least a partial view of the back space through open of reactions. On the one hand, Charles Simpson doors or glass windows. In small galleries, especially argues in a sociological study of the SoHo art world those located in Amsterdam, the back space may be that these types of spaces ‘try to make art view- limited to a single room or even a niche of the gallery ing an unintimidating secular experience. [...] The space, where a small number of art works is stored public is encouraged to look around unchallenged and a desk space is located for the owner of the gal- and without ostentatious supervision’ (Simpson lery and his/her assistant. In the largest New York 1981, pp. 16, 17-18). At least, Simpson writes, galleries such as the Marlborough Gallery, or the these galleries provide a neutral background for PaceWildenstein Gallery, located in corporate build- contemporary art. On the other hand, the artist Brian ings on 57th Street, the back of the gallery consists O’Doherty wrote in an essay entitled ‘Inside the of several corridors of spaces with distinct functions. White Cube’ that the gallery space is directed at These spaces may include the following: offices making works of art look expensive, difficult, and for the directors or dealers and, in some cases, for exclusive: ‘here we have a social, financial, and intel- their personal assistants; a private viewing room, lectually snobbery which models […] our system of furnished with comfortable seats, where potential limited production, our modes of assigning value, buyers can look in all comfort at a small number of our social habits at large. Never was a space, de- works they are interested in; a stock room, where signed to accommodate the prejudices and enhance (part of) the inventory of the gallery is stored; this the self-image of the upper middle classes, so ef- room is the every day territory of the art handler, who ficiently codified’ (O’Doherty 1976 [1999], p. 76). is responsible for the shipping and installation of For me, it is besides the point to give a norma- art works. A general office room may have a larger tive judgement of these spaces, whether critical table where staff meetings take place, and where or affirmative. Instead, it is important to register deals may be negotiated and arranged between the how the meaning of the white cube is constructed dealer and a collector, away from the works of art. in opposition to the back room of the gallery: if the In general, the back room makes the permanent information streams visible which galleries both art work and the selling price. On the internet, avant-garde tap into and contribute to. Information about the galleries usually only list prices of works made in edition, not of original paintings. whereabouts of the art works that have been sold by the gallery in the past is stored in archives (af- dealer); sometimes, however, the dealer buys these ter these works have been provided with a unique works himself, and subsequently tries to resell them. identification number), as well as price lists of past Because of a lack of financial means, because supply shows. Any information related to the careers of the and demand for works in this price bracket is limited, artists that the gallery represents (books, newspa- or simply because local market conventions prevent per clippings, magazine articles, catalogue texts, them from doing so, few Amsterdam galleries engage press releases) is kept track of meticulously, and in secondary-market trading. In New York, however, is either stored on floor-to-ceiling shelves, in com- estimates of the percentage of secondary-market puter databases, or in paper archives. If the gallery sales I heard during interviews in New York ranged is involved in secondary market activities, auction from 25 per cent to 60 per cent of total revenue (see catalogues and annual price guides published by art Velthuis 2001). Nevertheless, as I noticed during my price information firms such as Artprice are stored interviews, most dealers feel reluctant to talk about on the shelves. Apart from computers, telephones, this part of their business, and conduct these activi- a fax and a copier are the most essential ‘tools of ties out of sight of visitors in the front room. The rea- the trade’ that the directors and gallery assistants son is that the trading on the secondary market is as make use of. The backroom may not only make the stigmatised as it is profitable: they make the gallery information architecture of the market visible, but resemble commercial establishments rather than cul- also the gift economy that the art market is em- tural exhibition spaces. In other words, the second- bedded in: multiple copies of monographs, gallery ary market violates the dealer’s self-assigned role catalogues, and catalogue raisonnés of individual of promoter of artists and patron of art. One of them artists are stored in the backroom, which the gallery said that ‘you are not really cutting edge if you would may sporadically give as presents to collectors. touch something that is established. [...] You want to be perceived really … pure. And you are only pure if Secondary market you do primary. If you do secondary you are not pure’. Two different types of activities are conducted in Since secondary-market activities are stigmatised, the back spaces: primary market operations related dealers who run their gallery successfully without to works which the gallery exhibits in the front room, having recourse to the secondary market tend to take and secondary market operations. On the primary pride in this. Conversely, the reputation of a dealer market, new works of a limited number of living art- may be harmed when too much time and energy is ists that the gallery represents are sold, while the devoted to them. Larry Gagosian for instance, a New secondary market involves the profitable trade in York dealer who is known for his aggressive second- high-priced art works made by a variety of estab- ary-market activities, was accused by his colleagues lished, often deceased artists that have, in most of ‘degrading the business’ and ‘bringing the habits cases, never been represented by the gallery. In of a souk rug seller to a refined trade’. In the media most cases, these secondary market sales happen Gagosian defended himself against such allega- on a commission basis (meaning that a collector tions by saying: ‘Is it written somewhere that only who wants to sell a work, pays a commission to the Sotheby’s and Christie’s should profit from the resale of art, and that everyone else should be some kind of it bluntly: ‘The primary market is small, and it is saint?’ The point is, of course, that such legitimacy much more the labour of love […] So if I want to do structures of the art world are neither formalised, nor a money-losing show in the gallery, I could sup- written down, but are effective nevertheless. Even a port it by selling a painting by Gerhard Richter, or director at one of the world’s largest dealerships told something by Bruce Nauman’. Another frequently me that ‘interestingly enough it is not something we encountered argument to legitimise secondary-mar- pay too much attention to. We are mostly interested in ket activities is that the art works involved in these primary dealing, meaning from the studio. […] By and activities provide a cultural and historical context for large we prefer not to do the trading’; nevertheless, the artists that the gallery represents on the primary during the tour of the gallery, which he gave after the market. Secondary-market activities may also be interview, I spotted secondary-market art works by considered as far as they lend credibility to the work modern masters such as Jasper Johns and Robert of young artists who do not yet have a reputation. To Rauschenberg that the gallery offered for sale. that purpose, some dealers say they only buy work on Different strategies exist to counter this stigmati- the secondary market which ‘makes sense’ and ‘does sation. The New York art dealer David Zwirner, whose not look odd’ next to the work of ‘their’ own artists. main gallery is located in Chelsea, separated the primary and the secondary market to some extent Afterthought by opening another gallery in the wealthy Upper It was more than ten years ago since I collected East Side of Manhattan; this gallery, co-owned by the data (including many interviews with dealers in the Swiss art dealer Ivan Wirth, is exclusively de- Amsterdam and New York) that these observations voted to the secondary market. In my interviews, are based on. Frequent visits to galleries ever since, I frequently encountered attempts to legitimate as well as recent interviews with art dealers in Berlin, secondary-market dealing in different ways. Dealers have convinced me that the business repertoire of told me, for instance, that they use the revenue from the art gallery has not changed dramatically since secondary-market activities to finance the promotion that time. The present financial crisis is unlikely to of innovative, experimental art. They said that they do so either. Just like the Durkheimian separation of could hardly keep their doors open if they restricted the sacred and the profane appears in religious life their business to the primary market: an art dealer throughout history, there is a certain permanency to who is committed to promoting new, innovative art the dealer’s separation of the front and the back. The in the front room, can do so only by creating revenue casual visitor is allowed access to only one half of from secondary-market activities in the back room. the dealer’s life, the commercial nitty-gritty remains ‘You don’t survive on the shows’, as one dealer put hidden from view. The visitor who is interested in this nitty-gritty, for whatever reason, will have to make  Philip Delves Broughton, ‘Damien’s one of the good guys’, The Daily Telegraph, 3.10.2000. do with the photographs displayed in this book.

 Robert Knafo, ‘Upward mobility: SoHo stalwart David Zwirner is staking a claim on the Upper East Side’, ARTnews, October 1999, p. 62-64. Literature A Suit Does Not Make a Man, Durkheim, Emile. 1914 [1964]. ‘The Dualism of Human Nature and its Social Conditions’ in K. H. Wolff (ed.), Emile Durkheim, But it Helps Essays on Sociology and Philosophy, New York: Harper & Row. Moulin, Raymonde. 1967 [1987]. The French Art Market. A Thibaut de Ruyter Sociological View. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press. O’Doherty, Brian. 1976 [1999]. Inside the White Cube. The Ideology of the Gallery Space. Berkeley: University of California Press. A friend of mine who is a gallery manager has been Simpson, Charles R. 1981. SoHo: The Artist in the City. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. trying to persuade me (with a triumphant look on Troy, Nancy J. 1996. ‘Domesticity, Decoration and Consumer his face) that he plays an active role in the artistic Culture: Selling Art and Design in Pre-World War I France’ in education of the youth, arguing that anyone who C. Reed (ed.), Not at Home. The Suppression of Domesticity in Modern Art and Architecture, London: Thames and Hudson. wants to see an exhibition at his venue may sim- Velthuis, Olav. 2001. ‘Nieuwe inkomstenbronnen voor ply walk through the door and marvel at the art on Nederlandse galeries’ in T. Gubbels and I. Janssen (eds.) Kunst the immaculate walls of his space without having te koop! Artistieke innovatie en commercie in het Nederlandse galeriebestel, Amsterdam: Boekmanstudies/Mondriaan to pay for it. According to him, the sheer fact that Stichting. entry to his gallery is free of charge ensures that it is more democratic than a museum, where tickets are likely to cost up to 15 euros (although there are significant national differences in policies). But my friend conveniently forgets that if you want to ac- cess his stylish white cube, which is neatly tucked away behind a gate in a posh residential area, you first have to ring a bell, cross an inner yard lined with lavish private mansions, open yet another door to enter a lavish reception area designed by famous architects and reigned over by a young damsel on high heels, politely say ‘hello’ (without getting so much as a nod from her), make your way into the exhibition space, then creep back out again past the pretty mademoiselle whose dismissive look makes it clear that someone with your demeanour shouldn’t even bother enquiring about prices.

Although some galleries have shop windows where they exhibit the occasional art work, I have trouble believing that 15-year-olds would venture into this kind of place. And suppose they did – what would they make of all the ambient coolness and to which only visitors with a certified pedigree hipness? While it can be argued that private gal- will be invited. This is where everything happens. leries are venues where the latest in contemporary art can be seen for free, it is no less true that they Yet the true architectural specificity of private are first and foremost places of commerce and, as galleries is their interior design. Faced with a such, have to conform or play with the prevailing series of typical constraints – no curved or col- canons of interior design. I’m not referring here to oured walls, providing the artists with a more or Brian O’Doherty’s white cube theory but rather to less functional ‘blank canvas’ for exhibitions the objects required to create an atmosphere, the etc. – architects and interior designers (often distinctive features which will ensure that a gallery, in conjunction with the gallery owner) select though it may be as white and clinical-looking as the furniture so as to reflect the owner’s taste a dentist’s surgery, will always remain a gallery. without inflecting or disrupting the percep- tion of the art works on display. Out with Joe When asked to design a private gallery venue, Colombo, Verner Panton or Gaetano Pesce and pretty much any trained architect is likely to de- their eccentric creations in coloured plastic; liver a decent job. He will require skilled plaster- in come Arne Jacobsen, Charles & Ray Eames ers to build seamless display units, he will have and neutrality! But when this very neutrality to consider the need for and design of plinths, becomes a proper aesthetic canon, the question choose a certain type of lighting (but there are arises as to the true reasons behind this choice. professionals for that as well), and decide on the material and colour of the flooring. He will It was in 1958 that the Eameses designed their furthermore need to make some decisions as firstAluminium Chair. Its shape is defined by two regards the spatial disposition according to the lateral beams, with the seating and backrest no client’s wishes and needs: while one gallery more than a piece of fabric stretched between manager wants a secluded work space and a the two. The resulting frame is light, both in terms single receptionist, another may want to show of weight and appearance, while its materials off by having a long rooster of female staff tap- evoke modernity and aircraft construction tech- ping away at the keyboards of the latest Apple nology. Its looks and sitting comfort are beyond computers. In some galleries the artists’ cata- reproach, and even some 50 years after it was logues and portfolios are displayed so as to be designed, this chair and its variations (high or seen from the entrance, while in others they are low version, with or without armrest...) have be- tucked away in bookshelves that remain invisible come true classics of industrial design, invariably to the visitor. Here, too, decisions are subject to manufactured by the Vitra company and sold the owner’s preferences, to his working habits to hundreds of offices around the world. Arne and his general conception of his job. Last but not Jacobsen’s chair named Series 7 or 3107 ap- least, one of gallery managers’ favourite archi- peared in 1955 and features an intelligent com- tectural gimmicks is a private or intimate lounge, bination of strips of plywood glued onto chromed steel tubes. More polyvalent in use (it can be stacked and is resilient yet comfortable) it fits This is all slightly perverted. If tomorrow I were in neatly with gallery spaces (but also museum to walk into a gallery fitted with battered Ikea cafés, conference rooms and collectors’ living furniture, I would probably construe that busi- rooms). For his private quarters, the inveterate ness is bad. Furniture, it appears, has become a collector will prefer a ‘vintage’ model whose com- signifier which, similar to the cut of the gallery mercial value far exceeds the 300 or 400 euros manager’s suit or the brand of shoes worn by his required to buy a new one; contemporary design, assistants, informs us about the aesthetic and it turns out, is already governed by the same laws commercial value of the art works on display. as the antiques market. If the gallery owner is While a record shop impresses you with the sheer German and ever-so-slightly interested in what quantity of vinyl on its shelves, the layers of his country has brought forth, he will opt for the vintage posters on the wall behind the counter, timeless SE 68 chair designed in 1950 by the the moribund appearance of the nicotine-fed brilliant Egon Eiermann. Sharing the functional- shopkeeper, the looks of the blokes rummaging ity and construction principle of Jacobsen’s, through the records with a knowing smile on their it looks slimmer and uses even more ingenious faces, and the background music that sets the technology (its backrest being supported by a atmosphere as soon as you enter, the distinctive ‘fifth’ chrome leg). Eiermann has also designed signs of a prospering contemporary art gallery a range of stunningly beautiful office desks, to are somewhat more subtle. This, then, is the which you might want to add the 606 cupboards true quality of the type of furniture favoured by designed by Dieter Rams for Vitsœ in 1960. gallery owners: it is extremely elegant, clearly Apart from their uncluttered shapes and simple functional and sufficiently expensive to be ex- geometry, these objects share a range of materi- clusive yet just short of a conspicuous show of als such as chromed steel, aluminium, fabric and wealth. Herein also lies the tragedy (and failure) plywood, which came directly out of the Bauhaus of modernity as imagined by the inventors of this workshops. With colours ranging from black and furniture, which had in fact been designed to be white to shades of grey (even though there are mass-produced at relatively low cost and with a more and more ‘pop’ versions available featuring humanist aim in mind (creating lightweight and red lacquer or shades of orange and green) and affordable objects for a large number of consum- shapes which have been constantly revised and ers). But history slowly perverted this ideal by reused (and copied), each of these objects has turning it into a superficial sales argument. Once literally become invisible, or, to quote the adver- the designer had died, manufacturers launched tising blurb for one of them: ‘the purity of its form into profitable and particularly disgraceful cel- is eye-catching’. Which is one way of saying that ebratory operations (suffice to consider what simply looking at it implies that you are capable Wilde+Spieth, the current manufacturers of Egon of distinguishing its simplicity, modesty and pu- Eiermann’s chairs, have recently been turning rity – which in essence makes you an aesthete. out in order to boost sales figures). Ever since it has become a mere matter of style (instead of ‘modern’ and ‘classic’). So to all owners of concept), and not least thanks to the manufac- Eames, Jacobsen or Eiermann chairs (I will admit turers’ advertising efforts, we have witnessed a to owning four SE 68 s myself), just ask yourself paradigmatic shift – away from the initial idea to this question: why do you like them so much? create uncluttered and open living spaces with affordable and lightweight furniture towards an era in which, if you want to be modern, you have to let your wallet do the talking, thus leaving the less fortunate to assemble their furniture themselves. Ironically, we are being told that ready-to-assemble furniture is tantamount to the triumph of modernity’s ideals of plain, transport- able and cheap furniture. As for the well-informed who are still keen to express their individuality and taste, they are likely to skim through eBay, where design classics can be found at more reasonable prices – unless they are hunting for a rare or original edition (these items of furniture have practically never ceased to be produced for the past 50 or so years, which means that mil- lions of them can be found in the offices of crea- tive people throughout the world). Or they might simply get hold of one of the innumerable copies that have flooded the market, as few gallery visitors will be able to make them out as such.

As with all business models, there are of course independent minds who break the rules and get away with it. But while some galleries may not care for appearances, they must be aware that they are likely to miss out on certain op- portunities. The fact remains that in 99 per cent of cases, galleries opt for refined neutrality – a reflection of 1950s modernity, which has hardly aged in terms of formal language and has thus achieved ‘classic’ status (though I’m constantly amased at the unlikely association of the terms

Artists and L.A. Raeven Min Kim Tamara Albaitis Galleries Daragh Reeves Ellen Kooi Zina Al-Shukri Jannie Regnerus Danielle Kwaaitaal An Architektur Amsterdam Thomas Rentmeister Loretta Lux Selda Asal Jan Rothuizen Stepanek Maslin Mario Asef Annet Gelink Gallery Michael Smith Justin McAllister Larissa Babi Carlos Amorales Evi Vingerling Jochen M√ºhlenbrink Sofia Bempeza Yael Bartana Chikako Watanabe Ulf Puder Renata Brink Ed van der Elsken Luuk Wilmering Terry Rodgers Christiane B√ºchner Alicia Framis Carlos & Jason Robert Burghardt Anya Gallacio Fons Welters Sanchez Johannes Burr Ryan Gander Yesim Akdeniz Graf Kahn & Selesnick Lottie Child Carla Klein Eylem Aladogan Lena Soulkovskaia Zoe Cohen Meiro Koizumi Tom Claassen Henk Tas Sandra Contreras Kiki Lamers Jan De Cock Gerald van der Kaap Ania Corcilius David Maljkovic Claire Harvey Carrie Yamaoka Nicole Degenhardt Dan McCarthy David Jablonowski Alex Dorfsman Jenny Perlin Job Koelewijn Berlin Sigrun Drapatz Bradley Pitts Sven Kroner Dr. Hiltrud Ebert Liza May Post Zilvinas Landzbergas Arndt & Partner Constanze Eckert Muzi Quawson Gabriel Lester Adam Adach Lise-Lotte Elley Glenn Sorensen Pere Llobera Erik Bulatov Dominic Dumit Barbara Visser Renzo Martens Sophie Calle Estevez Erik Wesselo Matthew Monahan Joe Coleman Tatjana Fell Paulien Oltheten William Cordova Linda Florence Ellen de Bruine Projects Maria Roosen Yannick Demmerle D√∂rthe Fischer Lara Almarcegui Daniel Roth Gilbert and George Kim F√∂rster Otto Berchem G√©-Karel van der Anton Henning Markus Freidl Andre van Bergen Sterren Thomas Hirschhorn Peter Frey Ralf Berger Berend Strik Jitish Kallat Philipp Geist Ross Birrell Jennifer Tee Jon Kessler Lisa Glauer Pauline Boudry and Alex Winters Douglas Kolk Stine Gonsholt Renate Lorenz Karsten Konrad Katharina Gruzei Anne-lise Coste Torch Josephine Meckseper Maggie Haas Keren Cytter TINKEBELL Vik Muniz Anke Hagemann Jeremiah Day Philip Akkerman Muntean / Rosenblum Lydia Hamann Uta Eisenreich Susan Anderson Julian Rosefeldt S√∂nke Hallmann Ksenia Galiaeva Various Artists Charles Sandison Latharina Heilein Dora Garcia Eelco Brand Dennis Scholl Britta Helmerdig gerlach en koop Hans Broek Nedko Solakov Pablo Hermann Anthony Howard Edward Burtynsky Hiroshi Sugito Mathias Heyden Saskia Janssen Gary Carsley Ena Swansea Patrick Hillman Paul Ramirez Jonas Anton Corbijn Mathilde ter Heijne Stephen Hobbs Mark Kent Popel Coumou Susan Turcot Andrej Holm Suchan Kinoshita Martin C. de Waal Keith Tyson Sybille Hotz Klaas Kloosterboer Martin Denker Shi Xinning Ingrid H√∂lzl Michiel Kluiters Wouter Deruytter Ralf Ziervogel Farida Hueck Nesrine Khodr David Drebin Emilia and Ilya Berit Hummel George Korsmit Rowena Dring Kabakov J√∂rg Jozwiak David Miles Eldon Garnet Jonas Burgert Kolorit Ioana Nemes Margi Geerlinks Andreas Golder Raj Kahlon Erkka Nissinen Anthony Goicolea Aya Uekawa Alevtina Kakhidze Maria Pask Simon Henwood Martin Kaltwasser Rune Peitersen Teun Hocks Art Transponder Kerstin Karge Susan Philipsz Twan Janssen Gabriel Acevedo Martin Keil Falke Pisano Anya Janssen Maisae Alabdallah Yune-Ji Kim Schmidt-Bleek Miru Kim Martyna Starosta Johnen Galerie Kay Rosen Sean Snyder Benji Whalen Daniele Buetti Birte Kleine-Benne Can Sungu JƒÅnis Avoti≈Ü≈° Kathrin Sonntag Michael Snow Francesco Vezzoli Benny Dr√∂scher Elger Esser Halina Kliem Millette Tapiador Stephan Balkenhol Julien Audebert Vibeke Tandberg Katharina Wulff Jacob Taekker Ian Hamilton Finlay Doros Koch Katja Then Roger Ballen Cerith Wyn Evans Julie Blomberg Hans Haacke Folke K√∂bberling Wiebke Trunk Armin Boehm Agnieszka Brzezanska Max Hetzler Neil Farber G√ºnter Haese Angela K√∂ntje Sencer Vardarman Martin Boyce Tom Burr Haluk Akak√ße Neugeriemschneider Randi & Katrine Christian Hahn Steffen Kr√ºger H√®ctor Vel√°squez Micha≈Ç Budny Ben Carter Darren Almond Franz Ackermann Rasmus Bj√∏rn Herbert Hamak Stephan Kurr Patricia Waller Rafa≈Ç Bujnowski Valentin Carron Monica Bonvicini Pawel Althamer Rebecca Stevenson Peter Hopkins Voldoymyr Kuznetsov Alice Warnecke David Claerbout Mel Chin & GALA Glenn Brown Keith Edmier Simon Keenleyside Sol LeWitt Annette Leeb K√§the Katrin Wenzel Martin Creed Committee Andr√© Butzer Olafur Eliasson Tor-Magnus Lundeby MARWAN Karl Friedrich Lentze Annie Whiles Slawomir Elsner Steven Claydon Rineke Dijkstra Isa Genzken Trine Boesen Mona Marzouk Jasmina Llobet Christine Woditschka Elger Esser Raphael Danke G√ºnther F√∂rg Sharon Lockhart Will Turner Hiroyuki Masuyama Pia Linz Florian W√ºst Geoffrey Farmer Luc Delahay Mona Hatoum Michel Majerus Willem Weismann Randa Mirza Nanna L√ºth Aaron Ximm Hans-Peter Feldmann Matias Faldbakken Arturo Herrera Antje Majewski Stephan M√∂rsch Caroline Lund Secil Yaylali Francesco Gennari Charles Gaines Jorge Pardo Rabih Mrou√© Nina Lundstr√∂m Inga Zimprich Dan Graham Aneta Grzeszykowska Ulrich Lamsfu√ü Elizabeth Peyton Timo Nasseri R√©mi Marie Anna Zosik Rodney Graham Drew Heitzler Won Ju Lim Tobias Rehberger Produzentengalerie Michelangelo Henrik Mayer Anna Zvyagintseva Andrew Grassie Claire Hooper Vera Lutter Simon Starling Yesim Akdeniz Graf Pistoletto Brigid Mason David Hahlbrock Felix Stephan Huber Marepe Thaddeus Strode Tjorg Douglas Beer Anne & Patrick Poirier Mazuma Barbara Thumm Candida H√∂fer Richard Hughes Beatriz Milhazes Rirkrit Tiravanija Ulla von Brandenburg Walid Raad Erick Meyenberg Jo Baer Olaf Holzapfel Jacob Dahl Sarah Morris Pae White Bernhard Brungs Khalil Rabah D√∂rte Meyer Fiona Banner Martin Honert J√ºrgensen Ernesto Neto Gisela Bullacher Marwan Rechmaoui Sandrine Micoss Bigert + Bergstr√∂m Robert Kusmirowski Mike Kelley Frank Nitsche Volker Diehl Jonas Burgert Ulrich R√ºckriem Lada Nakonechna Sebastiaan Bremer Tim Lee Kitty Kraus Albert Oehlen AES + F Michael Conrads Felix Schramm Marcus Neustetter Fernando Bryce Liu Ye Maria Loboda Yves Oppenheim Martin Assig Stephen Craig Wael Shawky Raphael Vincent Noz Jota Castro Victor Man Alice Maude-Roxby Richard Phillips Rina Banerjee Felix Droese Christine Streuli Clio Padovani Martin Dammann Jan Merta Jerry McMillan Michael Raedecker Blue Noses Marlene Dumas Gerda Steiner & J√∂rg Antonio Gonzales Val√©rie Favre Yoshitomo Nara Michael Queenland Bridget Riley Martin Borowski Bogomir Ecker Lenzlinger Paucar Diango Hern√°ndez Roman Ond√°k Ivan Razumov Jes√∫s Rafa√´l Soto Olga Chernysheva Beate G√ºtschow Florian Thomas Branca Pavlovic Christian Hoischen Pietro Roccasalva Ed Ruscha Thomas Struth Ewalina Chrzanowska Volker Hueller Barbara Camilla Sharon Paz Sabine Hornig Thomas Ruff Frances Stark Kara Walker Angela Dwyer Bethan Huws Tucholski Dr. Katrin Peters Teresa Hubbard/ Anri Sala Michael Stevenson Rebecca Warren Frauke Eigen Hubert Kiecol Akram Zaatari Nana Petzet Alexander Birchler Wilhelm Sasnal Lisa Tan Christopher Wool Thomas Florschuetz Astrid Klein Tarek Zaki Susanne Pomrehn Alex Katz Tino Sehgal Stephanie Taylor Toby Ziegler Janine Gordon Gustav Kluge Luis Fernand√©s Anne-Mie van Wiebke Siem Kostis Velonis Shilpa Gupta Rupprecht Matthies São Paulo Pons Kerckhoven Helmut Stallaerts Corinne Wasmuht Galerie Neu Susan Hefuna Olaf Metzel Mariel Poppe Elke Krystufek Florian S√ºssmayr Kai Althoff Susan Hiller Heinrich Modersohn Galeria Vermelho Gruppa Predmetov Johnny Miller Michael van Ofen Klosterfelde Cosima von Bonin Horst P. Horst Norbert Prangenberg Amilcar Packer Tere Recarens Mariele Neudecker Jeff Wall Nader Ahriman Tom Burr Ling Jian Bernhard Prinz Ana Maria Tavares Imken Reinert Julian Opie Matthew Antezzo Keith Farquhar Alexey Kallima Thomas Scheibitz Andr√© Komatsu Nadin Reschke Chloe Piene Galerie Kamm John Bock Christian Flamm Matthias M√ºller Norbert Cadu Dan Belasco Rogers Ann-SofiS id√©n Agnieszka Brzezanska Tobias Buche Saul Fletcher Youssef Nabil Schwontkowski Carla Zaccagnini Elke Rosenfeld Kate Davis Hanne Darboven Claire Fontaine Jaume Plensa Thomas Sch√ºtte C√°ssio Vasconcellos Maja Ruznic Guido Baudach Ulrike Feser Lara Favaretto Florian Hecker Alice Stepanek & Andreas Slominski Chelpa Ferro Janine Sack Andr√© Butzer Amy Granat Stefan Hirsig Ull Hohn Steven Maslin Henk Visch Chiara Banfi Sylvia Schedelbauer Bj√∂rn Dahlem Katharina Jahnke Christian Jankowski Sergej Jensen Herbert Volkmann Nicole Wermers Cinthia Marcelle Birgit Schuhmacher Thilo Heinzmann Annette Kisling Edward Krasinski Kitty Kraus Zhang Huan Claudia Andujar Sophie Schmidt Thomas Helbig Lorna Macintyre Ulrike Kuschel Klara Liden Jenny Holzer Sfeir-Semler Daniel Senise Nicole Schuck Andreas Hofer Michele Di Menna Armin Linke Hilary Lloyd Wim Delvoye Moritz Altmann Detanico e Lain Susanne Schulz Erwin Kneihst Simon Dybbroe Jonas Lipps Nick Mauss The Atlas Group / Dias e Riedweg Maya Schweizer Erik van Lieshout M√∏ller Matt Mullican Birgit Megerle Copenhagen Walid Raad Ding Musa Judith Siegmund Bjarne Melgaard Pavel Pepperstein Rivane Manfred Pernice Yto Barrada Eduardo Srur Caryn Simonson A√Øda Ruilova Bernd Ribbeck Neuenschwander Daniel Pflumm Gallery Mogadishni Robert Barry Fabio Morais Zuzanna Skiba Markus Selg Annette Ruenzler Dan Peterman Josephine Pryde Andreas Schulenburg Taysir Batniji Gabriela Albergaria Anja Sommer Thpmas Zipp Albrecht Sch√§fer Kirsten Pieroth Gedi Sibony Andrew Sendor Bert de Beul H√©ctor Zamora Andrea Stahl Cornelia Steven Pippin Andreas Slominski Beau Chamberlain Balthasar Burkhard Jo√£o Loureiro Front Desk / Back Office ‘Separating the Sacred from the Fucking Good Art / edition nº 2 Profane: the front and the back of a contemporary art gallery’ by This book is published by: Olav Velthuis is an adaptation of Fucking Good Art & post editions ‘The Front Room’ and ‘The Back Room’ from the first chapter – ‘The Produced by: Fucking Good Art Architecture of the Art Market’ – of his book Talking Prices. Symbolic Editor: Rob Hamelijnck Meanings of Prices on the market Co-editor: Nienke Terpsma for Contemporary Art, published by Translation (introduction) and Princeton University Press in 2005. copy-editing: Gerard Forde ([email protected]) Olav Velthuis is Assistant Professor Bookdesign: Nienke Terpsma at the Department of Sociology Typeface: Mercury by Radim Pesko and Anthropology of the University Printing and binding: Kempers, Aalten of Amsterdam. He is the author of Imaginary Economics (NAi Publishers, ISBN: 978 94 6083 032 7 2005) and Talking Prices. Symbolic Meanings of Prices on the Market post editions for Contemporary Art (Princeton Marconistraat 52, 3029 AK Rotterdam University Press, 2005). Before, he www.post-editions.com worked for several years as a Staff Reporter Globalization for the Dutch Fucking Good Art daily de Volkskrant. His journalistic Calandstraat 3-b, 3016 CA Rotterdam writings have appeared in among oth- (head office) ers Artforum and the Financial Times. Muskauer Straße 12-a, 10997 Berlin www.fuckinggoodart.nl Thibaut de Ruyter is an architect, writer and curator. He lives and works The texts and photos in this book are in Berlin. He is a regular contributor made available under the Creative to the magazines Art Press, Il Giornale Commons Attribution: Attribution- dell’Architettura, Particules, Zitty and NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 published texts in various catalogues. Unported. This work is provided under He curated the exhibition ‘investigat- the terms of this Creative Commons ing evp’ (www.radiogallery.org) and public license. The work is protected directed a special issue of Art Press by copyright and/or other applicable about Berlin. Early 2008 he organized law. Any use of the work other than as the show ‘Weniger Geld, Mehr Liebe’ authorized under this license or copy- (Less money, more love) presenting right law is prohibited. his private collection of artworks in www.creativecommons.org the artist-run-space ‘tmp’ and he also Dan hier het logo van CC!!!! co-curates ‘The Last Ten Shots’ at the Gallery Bongout in Berlin. He co- Some of the photos were published curated the show ‘Wach sind nur die earlier in FGA#12 – International edi- Geister’ with Inke Arns at the HMKV tion / Berlin and FGA#20 – The Swiss Dortmund in 2009. Issue. Two of the photos were adapted for the exhibitions ‘Every Story Tells a Picture’ (SparwasserHQ Berlin 2006), and Regionale 7 (Kunsthaus Baselland, Basel 2006), and produced as 3 x 4 meter black and white wallpa- per under the name Nienke Terpsma & Rob Hamelijnck / Fucking Good Art.