MARIJA_2018B

Schwarzmalen is a critical art project about public participation
and crowdfunding, relating to artists’ income. It is an
initiative of Astrid Moors and Marja van Putten.
With Schwarzmalen we question the call for public participation
and also the much-vaunted possibility of financing the
‘creative industry’ with crowdfunding. Public participation is
hot. In politics and society the idea lives that art must have
a ‘social use’ and be ‘broadly supported’. Artists who seek
adventure and do not earn any money with their work are labeled
hobbyists or are ‘out of date’.
The name Schwarzmalen is derived from the painting ‘Höhere Wesen
befahlen: rechte obere Ecke schwarz malen’ by Sigmar Polke
(1969).
There have been three editions of Schwarzmalen in 2014, 2015
and 2018. The last one took place in Artchapel in Amsterdam
Zuid in April 2018. As with the previous two Schwarzmalen projects,
we have sold empty canvases again. This time through
the website Voordekunst.nl to test if it is possible to crowdfund
autonomous art. This was rather successful.
more info on: schwarzmalen.nl
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Schwarzmalen 3, Exhibition, Art Chapel, april 2018