Artists: Željka Aleksi?, Arbajt Kolektiv, Kemil Bekteši, Vuk ?uk, Polina Davydenko, FaceOrFactory, Santa France, Kata Geibl, Lin Gerkman, Ieva Kraule-K?na & El?na V?tola, Nika Kupyrova, Pita Project, Maja Simiši?, Barbora Šimková, Dorijan Šiško, Andrej Škufca, Tadej Vaukman, Linda Vilka, Katarzyna Wyszkowska, Rafa? ?arski
Title: Selling Out
Curators: ETC. & T?na P?tersone
Venue: Former Midas department store, Ljubljana
Photos: Marijo Zupanov
For the third year in a row, the ETC. collective, which published the third issue of the magazine Selling Out in March 2024, is also organising an exhibition programme including the artists and artist collectives featured in the magazine. On the occasion of Ljubljana Art Weekend, 20 projects were exhibited in the former Midas department store, a multistorey shopping centre that has been abandoned for years and which ETC. is transforming through the exhibition into a venue for a conversation about the conditions of work and capitalist extraction.
Most of us rarely stop to question the basic assumptions underlying our own labour: why we work, for whom, for how much pay, and what is the true significance of our work. If we did, we might realize that we are often blind to the systemic circumstances shaping our lives, thereby increasing the burden on individuals. This system, subtly promoted as following one’s passion and loving what you do, often leads to overwork and unpaid labor, trapping individuals in a vicious cycle of exhaustion and unfulfilled promises.
The art world is not an exception, with artists, curators, writers, and producers often juggling multiple roles, resources, and deadlines in a relentless cycle. Many find themselves wearing multiple hats, stretched thin to make ends meet. Despite the struggle, there’s resilience. Artists persevere, constantly producing, exhibiting, and networking to maintain visibility in an ever-demanding industry. Yet, at what cost?
The exhibition inhabits a former shopping mall that, emptied of its merchandise, invites us to reflect on hyper-production, (self-)promotion, and entrapment in structures that exhaust us. The space is named after the mythical king Midas whose golden touch rooted in greed and vanity was the cause of devastation as everything he touched, including what he truly needed to live, turned into gold. Similar is capitalism’s growth imperative, detached from the lived reality, exhausting some, starving others and massively rewarding the 1%.
Selling Out features work by artists included in the third issue of ETC. Magazine, showcasing artists and artist collectives from the Baltics to the Balkans. They employ diverse tactics and methods to tackle questions of labour, exploitation, and commodification as well as to resist the urge to silently give in to the norm.