The new lumbung Gallery will make the artworks of documenta fifteen available on TheArtists.net. Rooted in the principles of collectivity and communal resource sharing, the lumbung Gallery will present artworks by most artists and collectives in the exhibition, including: Britto Arts Trust, INSTAR, Wajukuu Art Project & Gudskul.

Wajukuu Art Project, Slum Art Festival, Wajukuu, 2018, Photo: Shabu Mwangi

June 14, 2022 (Kassel, Germany) TheArtists, in collaboration with the lumbung members and artists, present the lumbung Gallery project at documenta fifteen. On view from June 18 – September 25, 2022 and available on TheArtists.net, a non-profit initiative with the goal of supporting and promoting the work of contemporary artists, many of the artworks of documenta fifteen artists will be made available to curators, public institutions, collectors, and communities. This enables the participation in the principles of collectivity by committing and possibly purchasing the artworks and thereby directly contributing to the artists and their connected ecosystems. documenta fifteen exhibition is the gallery space in itself, works can be experienced in situ at all the venues. Additionally, artworks will be available for viewing on the online platform of the lumbung Gallery in collaboration with TheArtists – www.lumbunggallery.theartists.net.

Functioning as a cooperative gallery, it is a project set to contribute to artists and collectives and their local communities, reiterating the principles and practice of lumbung as its core mission, where value, pricing and division of return are reconsidered in a fully transparent way. By sharing returns, the project contributes to a greater transparency in the art market, thus supporting artists as equal partners in this chain of communication. Having the communal element at its core, the project reflects the ethos of the TheArtists, supporting and promoting the work of contemporary artists without permanent gallery representation. Through this collaboration, the collective goal is to further establish an alternative way countering the traditional art market models.

TheArtists expand, “we are excited to be entrusted by the lumbung with this adventure. We expect to learn a lot, to excite buyers and institutions and to engage with the many artists and collectives of documenta fifteen in a direct and transparent way. This has never been done before and we are ready for this special journey!"

Agus Nur Amal PMTOH, Prehistoric Making in Progress, Courtesy Agus Nur Amal PMTOH

30% of all individual transactions and/or sales will go into the lumbung common pot, collectively governed by all lumbung members, and from which TheArtists will receive no commission, solely the reimbursement of its costs. The remaining 70% will be used and distributed to the artists and art collectives and their communities. The pricing of the artworks is based on the collectives’ basic needs and artists’ basic income, as well as production costs rather than the pricing system of the current art market. A contract, or declaration of commitment including conditions and recommendations of use and future life of the artwork will accompany all the works. The team of lumbung Gallery will be available in Kassel at ruruHaus to explain the calculation of each individual work in relation to the collective or individual artist and to facilitate a direct exchange with the artists, as well as considering committing to non object based art.

The lumbung Gallery is initiated by the Lumbung and developed and managed in collaboration with TheArtists. It is registered as an association (“Verein”) and will continue to exist beyond documenta fifteen.

In addition to the lumbung Gallery project, TheArtists is excited to announce the next curated selections available from June, 2022. Following the inauguration of the first three hand-picked curated selections by reputed German artist Gregor Hildebrandt, art collective Slavs and Tatars, and UK-based curator Maya El Khalil, the platform is delighted to announce a new selection by conceptual artist and curator Ahmet Öğüt. The selection will present four artists originating from Turkey.

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NOTES TO EDITORS:

About TheArtists
TheArtists is a new non-profit platform with the goal of supporting and promoting the work of contemporary artists not (yet) represented by a gallery. Eager to share new perspectives on the international art scene, and to propose an alternative model to traditional art market models, this new initiative gives the artists a voice and visibility. At its core lies TheArtists.net, an online platform to discover, support, and collect carefully selected works by seldom presented artists, curated by world-renowned artists, curators, and professionals. Behind TheArtists are Maren Brauner, Martin Heller, Hendrike Nagel, Michael Oswald and Beat Raeber. Beat Raeber is an enabler and supporter of contemporary artistic practice and has worked with internationally renowned artists with his former gallery RaebervonStenglin. Michael Oswald is the Creative Director of his agency OSW. Martin Heller is a Berlin-based lawyer and a longtime experienced consultant and counsellor for artists, galleries and institutions worldwide. Maren Brauner is a curator, art mediator and editor. Hendrike Nagel recently joined the team to run and manage the lumbung gallery in Kassel during documenta fifteen.

TheArtists | TheArtists.net | Facebook | @theartists | Instagram | @theartistsnet

About documenta fifteen

As the fifteenth edition of the contemporary art exhibition, documenta fifteen will take place from June 18 until September 25, 2022 in Kassel. ruangrupa was unanimously selected by the international documenta commission as the artistic director of documenta fifteen and appointed by the supervisory board. ruangrupa has based documenta fifteen upon the values and ideas of lumbung. ruangrupa is a collective founded in 2000 and based in Jakarta, Indonesia. As a non-profit organization, ruangrupa promotes artistic ideas within urban and cultural contexts through the involvement of artists and other disciplines such as the social sciences, politics, technology or the media so as to open up critical reflections and perspectives on contemporary urban problems in Indonesia.

documenta fifteen | documenta-fifteen.de

About lumbung

lumbung, which directly translates as “rice barn”, refers to a communal building in rural Indonesia where a community’s harvest is gathered, stored and distributed according to jointly determined values as a pooled resource for the future. As a concrete practice, lumbung is the starting point of documenta fifteen: Principles of collective governance and resource sharing are pivotal to the curatorial work and  the structure of documenta fifteen. The collective’s way of working is based on a community-oriented model of sustainability in ecological, social and economic terms, in which resources, ideas or knowledge are shared. The idea of sustainability is also comprehensively considered in the exhibition planning in all its manifestations.

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