The art of equity / The equity of art


Lecture by Luke Mason in context of the presentation of Vermeir & Heiremans’ publication A Modest Proposal


A Jubilee event hosted by WIELS Contemporary art centre, Brussels
Friday 21 June 2019, 18:30-21h


A Modest Proposal investigates whether financialising public art collections, museum real estate,or their symbolic capital could create a cycle of wealth that would benefit the creators of these values, its original stakeholders: the artists and art workers. In response to this question legal scholar Luke Mason will focus on the historical shift in the meaning of the concept of equity within law: from equity as a principle of fairness to equity as a stake in capital.


Luke Mason is a philosopher and legal theorist, whose work focuses on labour law, legal philosophy and legal education. He is Associate Professor at Birmingham City University. He also teaches at the Sorbonne Law School and ICP in Paris.


Vermeir & Heiremans have collaborated closely with Luke Mason for their solo exhibition A Modest Proposal (in a Black Box) at Pumphouse Gallery in London in 2018. The implementation of the proposal raised some fundamental questions which were addressed in a symposium the artists organized at the Royal College of Art (London). The outcome of the symposium is now published in a limited edition artist publication, designed in close collaboration with Salome Schmuki.


Next to the script of the artists’ video installation the publication features a series of essays on the relationship between art and finance, the contemporary role of public museums and collections, and the influence of financialisation on urban processes and daily life. Contributions by Annelore Hofman, Victoria Ivanova, Caroline Knowles, Luke Mason, Louis Moreno, Andrea Phillips, and Emily Rosamond.


A Modest Proposal

An artist publication produced by Jubilee. Supported by Arts Council England, Cockayne—Grants for the Arts, the London Community Foundation, and by the Flemish Community, the Wallonia-Brussels Federation and a/r (art & recherche asbl).

Distribution: Jubilee


Practical:

21 June 2019, 18:30-21h

WIELS, Contemporary Art Centre

Ave. Van Volxemlaan 354

B-1190 Brussels


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