Cardboard Gallery opening reception - DUMBO Festival

The Cardboard Gallery presents its inaugural exhibition Barter and first exhibition outside Europe of the Ukrainian art collective SOSka Group.

The Cardboard Gallery is pleased to announce that it will be showcasing the work of Ukrainian artist collective SOSka Group for the first time in North America.

In SOSka Group’s video Barter (2007), the artists arrive at a Ukrainian village and set up a display of posters reproducing artworks by Chuck Close, Roy Lichtenstein and others in the hope of trading them for food with the local population. Within this alternative art market on the periphery of the commercial art world, the value of canonical contemporary works is established anew: a work by Cindy Sherman is exchanged for a live chicken. The video offers a playful glimpse into the perceived value of art, both as a commodity as well as a personal investment, evident in the accompanying photographs that record how the farmers choose to display the works inside their homes.

Curated by Vesna Krstich and Nikolas Drosos.

Opening Reception

When: on Friday, 9.25, at 7pm

Where: Washington str 30 1/2, DUMBO, Brooklyn

The Cardboard Gallery is an art space constructed from cardboard and other reclaimed materials, conceived by Vesna Krstich and Nikolas Drosos (Gemini Corporation) and designed by architect Marta Gazicka. Situated on the site of Robert Gair’s Bottle Cap and Cardboard Manufacturing Co., where corrugated cardboard was first invented and manufactured, the gallery inserts itself within the changing zoning patterns of this now gentrified warehouse district. Using locally salvaged cardboard as its principle material, the structure appropriates the aesthetics of temporary shelters and takes up rent-free occupancy on the street in front of the Dumbo Arts Center, positioning itself among other artist-run galleries, local businesses and real estate developments in the neighborhood. Since the gallery does not have an operating budget, a diverse, voluntary team has relied on alternative economic systems such as barter and gifting in order to design, build and operate this space. By doing so, the project explores how creative communities can forge alternative venues and collaborative opportunities in the wake of economic recession.

For more about the upcoming DUMBO Festival, click on http://www.dumboartfestival.org/