Post Capitalistic Auction, previously held in Bergen. Photo by Øystein Grutle Haara.
Post Capitalistic Auction
Toronto, Ontario
Presented by
Harbourfront Centre
The PCA audience is invited to bid for artworks in new ways, and actual transactions occur. The twist: bidders are invited to make offers not only with money; understanding, opportunity, and/or exchange are equally accepted currencies.
The artists are present at the auction and will ultimately decide on the winning bid if they choose one at all. The format of the auction is also meant to encourage a diversity of bidders, and not only art lovers or auction goers. An advising panel offers different perspectives on the final decision. PCA is created by Jingyi Wang, a China-born, Norwegian-based artist. Zoë Foster is the guest curator for this edition.
The auction is our performance, and the performance is our auction. All attending audiences are welcome to participate in the bidding. The bidders can choose to make offers based on any of the following categories – pure or in combination. All bids are placed through an online bidding software specially developed for this project and shown on a projection screen.
1. Money: The traditional way.
2. Opportunity: The bidder offers the artist a career opportunity in exchange for the artwork. In this case the bidder might have social capital in the form of a network, or other significant industry contacts that they can introduce the artist to.
3. Understanding: The bidder can offer an intellectual understanding or their emotional understanding of the artwork, making deeper connection with the art or artist.
4. Exchange: This could be anything. The bidder offers a trade or exchange of services. The exchange can also be something that takes place in the actual event. The bidder’s imagination might be the only limitation to this category.
This event will have a concurrent livestream for viewers outside of Toronto, however, only in-person participants will be able to bid.
Presented as part of Harbourfront Centre’s Festival of Cool.
Event Supporters
Jingyi Wang, born in Beijing, China, is a performance creator based in Bergen, Norway. She has a background in performing arts, journalism and advertisement. Her works feature a concept-driven, socio-politically concerned, and interdisciplinary approach.
In 2014 she initiated STATIC THEATER, a concept which composes a time flow with artworks instead of performers on stage. Since 2018, she has developed a new series in which she explores social events as frameworks and recreates the rules to challenge the current system and social paradigm. In this series, Wang has created Post Capitalistic Auction in 2018 and JUDGE ME, a performative court trial in 2021. Her works deeply involve local contexts and the participation of local communities and have been invited to several international theater and art festivals.
Collaborating since 2011 on publications and projects investigating contemporary humans belonging to the natural environment, Riitta Ikonen and Karoline Hjorth’s projects include the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics and TEDMED Talk 2020. Finnish artist Riitta Ikonen received her MA from the Royal College of Art in 2008. Norwegian photographer, artist and writer Karoline Hjorth received her MA from the University of Westminster in 2009.
Ed Pien has presented his artworks in global venues, including the Victor and Albert Museum, the Canadian Culture Centre, the Goethe Institute, Musée des beaux arts, Songzhuang Art Centre, the National Art Gallery of Canada, Sydney Biennale and many more. Pien’s ongoing and collaborative project involving a small group of Cuban Elders will be presented at the Art Gallery of Ontario from June 2022 to June 2023.
KC Adams is a Winnipeg-based artist who graduated from Concordia University with a B.F.A. in Studio Arts. Adams has had several solo exhibitions and group exhibitions and has been in three biennales, including the PHOTOQUAI: Biennale des images du monde in Paris, France. Adams participated in residencies at the Banff Centre, the Confederation Art Centre in Charlottetown, the National Museum of the American Indian and the Parramatta Arts Gallery in Australia. Her work is in many permanent collections nationally and internationally. Twenty pieces from the Cyborg Hybrid series are in the permanent collection of the National Art Gallery in Ottawa. Four trees from Birch Bark Ltd are in the Canadian Consulate of Australia. She was the scenic designer for the Royal Winnipeg Ballet’s Going Home Star: Truth and Reconciliation. Adams helped design a 30-foot public art sculpture called Niimamaa for the Winnipeg Forks and a piece for the United Way of Winnipeg called Community. Adams was awarded the Winnipeg Arts Council’s Making A Mark Award and Canada’s Senate 150 medal recipient for her accomplishments with her Perception Photo Series. She is the author of Perception: A Photo Series, chosen as the 2019 Books of the Year by Quill & Quire.
