Lifting: Theft in Art
Image: Installation view
Fort Worth Contemporary Arts, USA
April – May, 2008
Artists: A-1 53167, The Art Guys, Miguel Calderón and Yoshua Okón, Mark Jeffrey, Janice Kerbel, Micah Lexier, Luis o Miguel, Ann Messner, Ivan Moudov, Scott Myles, Dennis Oppenheim, Joel Ross, Jon Routson, Savage, Ulay, Timm Ulrichs, and Allison Wiese.
Lifting was traveling exhibition which was initially commissioned by
Fort Worth Contemporary Arts,
Peacock Visual Arts, Aberdeen, UK and traveled to Forth Worth Contemporary Arts, USA; and
Georgia Scherman Projects, Toronto, Canada. It consisted of contemporary and recent historical work by artists who professed to have committed theft in the name of art. Their motivations are diverse, from the frivolously mischievous to the critique of cultural structures. Borrowing and appropriation have long since had a presence within the creative process. However, the artists within this exhibition have deliberately made the act of theft a fundamental part of the process. The resulting work tests the boundaries of what is morally and ethically acceptable within society, and engages with the ways in which legal and cultural significance are attributed to property.
The exhibition was released under the aegis of
Atopia Projects, who released a book to coincide with the exhibitions.