News2011Galerie8 - Hackney Hoard - 22nd July to 28th August
18.07.2011
Galerie8 - Hackney Hoard - 22nd July to 28th August
HACKNEY HOARD
22nd July – 28th August 2011
Private View: 21st July, 2011 6-9 PM
GALERIE8, 195-205 Richmond Road London E8 3NJ
www.galerie8.co.uk
Coinciding with their summer launch, GALERIE8 will be opening their permanent space with the exhibition Hackney Hoard, 22nd July – 28th August, 2011. The exhibition is an inquiry into the value and status placed on contemporary art and the role it plays in society, regardless of its literal monetary value in terms of the materials from which it is made. For this project, GALERIE8 will be working with artists Gavin Turk, Adam Dant, Terry Castle, Le Gun artists, Matthew Killick and the Last Tuesday Society and Annabel Tilley.
On the 12th July 2007, whilst re-landscaping their back garden, four residents of Hackney, East London, unearthed eighty mystery gold coins. Further research into the coins confirmed their interesting provenance; American, minted during the late 19th Century and buried by a Jewish man who fled from Nazi Germany in the 1940’s. After several years of investigation into the ownership of the coins, as well as an exhibition at the British Museum, they were returned to their owner – a descendant of the man who buried them. Upon their return, the Coroner’s Court of the inner North Borough of London concluded that, under legal definition, the find was in fact ‘Not Treasure’ – a result that sparked much debate.
The quest to find the proprietor of the coins had provoked much speculation and wild storytelling ensued. Using the narrative and debate that surrounds this issue of ‘what is treasure?’ GALERIE8 and renowned artist Adam Dant have initiated Hackney Hoard, a project that will explore the status of art in popular contemporary culture. The value of art is not dependent on precious materials, as treasure may be, but on this curious triangulation of value we assign between the viewer, the object and the market. Can the value we construct truly be translated into monetary terms? Let the excavation begin.
The artists involved in this project will use the discovery and narrative surrounding the Hackney Hoard as a starting point. Each artist will take apart the subject matter through the implementation of different explorative artistic styles and mediums.
For this exhibition, Turk will be exhibiting his Revolting Brick, 2008, as pictured.