JANKOWSKI, CHRISTIAN
1968 Göttingen
Title: Kunst + Krise.
Date: 2010.
Technique: Worn motorcycle suit in green leather with police inscription, manufacturer: J. Stadler Aidenbach, Size 52.
Measurement: Jacket: approx. 74 x 98 x 3cm. Trousers: approx. 100 x 63 x 3cm.
The work was part of Christian Jankwoski's "Art + Crisis" performance, in which the artist auctioned off objects donated by state institutions in 2008. The uniform was lot number 29.
We thank studio Christian Jankowski for the kind support.
Provenance:
- Kasper König Collection, Berlin
Exhibitions:
- Museum Morsbroich, Leverkusen 2017
Kunst und Krise
"Kunst und Krise" (Art + crisis) - two keywords that are mutually linked. What would art be without a crisis? Where to draw from? During the 2008 financial crisis, Christian Jankowski organised an auction at the Akademie der Künste in Berlin (Academy of Arts) on the subject of the financial crisis and its effects on art and culture. He approached public organisations and institutions, including the German Bundestag, the Berlin police, the fire brigade and the customs office, and asked them to donate objects for auction. The institutions offer him items that would otherwise have been disposed of. From a typewriter to a teddy bear to a firefighter's helmet, a wide variety of objects end up in the auction. At the sale, Jankowski declares these 'donations from the state' to be works of art. The buyer receives the respective object as well as a certificate and can decide which cultural organisation the proceeds should go to.
Police motorbike suit
This work from 2010 is a motorbike uniform with a police inscription from the ''Kunst + Krise'' series. In addition to its determination as a work of art, it should also be seen as a contemporary document. The financial crisis of 2008 was one of the biggest disruptions since the Second World War, causing global unemployment, among other things. The art market always reacts to crises in the global economy with a cyclical shift, as investing in art still appears particularly attractive in the first phase of a crisis ('stable substitute investment') and in the second phase, when supply exceeds demand, a fall in prices is to be expected. Jankowski's 'a(u)ction' becomes a performance; he uses this first phase of speculation to generate funds and supports disadvantaged cultural institutions.
Performance as art
Christian Jankowski's works are in the field of conceptual and performance art. His performances question the mechanisms of the art market in a cunning and subtle way. In 1998, he took part in the Portikus exhibition initiated by König. In one performance, the artist wrote a book entitled ''Mein erstes Buch'' (My First Book) in reference to the city library destroyed during the Second World War. With his performance, Jankowsi examines the effects of external impulses on his artistic work. In 2016, he was the first artist to lead the European art exhibition Manifesta entitled 'What People do for Money' in Zurich. Kasper König previously curated the Manifesta in St. Petersburg.
