This work was first on show at the City Hall exhibition in Leiden. On view for three months, the exhibition was part of various events in the city such as the Kunstroute and Leiden Art Science Week. Voor de Vorm opened the conversation about Leiden’s maker climate and the versatility of contemporary makers. The exhibition opening was in the same week that the municipality decided to pull all cultural funds due to budget issues with the municipality building. The triptych has flexible pricing. If you paste stickers on it, you can change the amount of money I would receive for the work. Each red sticker subtracted €50 from the price. Each black sticker adds €50. People may make the work free. But the cheaper you go, the less of the work you’ll see.
Nine red stickers. Seven black stickers, (one is hiding under the pallet). €800.
Seven red stickers. Five black stickers. €900.
Six red stickers. Four black stickers. €900.
To the right, you can find a (translated) transcript of the best questions.
A: Together, there’s a ping-pong of ideas going on then. You can pass work back and fort and get instant
feedback.
A: Yes, I had the first stickers pasted by friends. After that, people started playing with the composition, being afraid to make the work ‘ugly’.
A: No.
A: Yes.
A: No, and sort of yes, you should not sticker on the wall. That’s just rude. But the frame, backside, and full print are cool.
A: It’s about the price of art. If you’d like to take the work home for free, you can. Free artwork, but ruined with stickers.
A: Yes, that’s the point. I’m hoping it will eventually become a nice sticker-relief.
A: Yes, I’m Maaike. Originally a graphic designer. Not an artist at all. Since 2019 I’ve been photographing every day to get better at it. Sort of a photography diary. I noticed that I liked shooting at places where social mobility is visible.
A: Yes, you’d have to think about what you actually bought then.
A: At the municipality, people were really afraid of stickering on the work. Men in suits had to get a little bump to start “ruining the artwork”. In the younger galleries, people think it’s fun. They start thinking about where to sticker and how it changes the picture.
A: Mornings.
A: The best works don’t have a solid ending. It’s good to say: “I’ll just try it.” I’ll see where it will end
and what it will look like. Coincidence plays a big part in my work. Whether through analogue printing techniques, where you don’t have full control over the end result, or through fluidity in ideas, form, or transience. Art is always in relation to the narrative, and a narrative is never linear. So neither should be the art.