Abstract
In Performing Negotiations the artist Dawn Nilo and her team of dealers from Contemporary, Monk, negotiate, sell and perform art. Visitors are invited to enter into the absurd, creative and conceptual game of negotiating the terms and agreements of a purchase. Set within a gallery booth, on the border of reality, everything is for sale: performances, videos, ideas, photographs, prints, sculptures, carpets, tables, chairs, pens, the soul or anything else that we can negotiate – for the right price. Between a staging ground for an absurd self-reflective play, and an honest gallery, the performance is a game of anything (that can be negotiated) goes.
Throughout the exhibition or fair, collectors as well as visitors on any budget are encouraged to play the game of buying, selling, performing and exhibiting art, so that the act of performing negotiations becomes a performance in itself. The performance is not only a game, but a game changer as it
explores the challenges and possibilities of selling art, including performance and conceptual art. Rules can be broken and created in this absurd research lab. The reality of the game lies in the fact that at first, anything is possible, but once a deal is made, it defines the work and sets the conditions and protocol for the future.
