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Trade Show, Eastside Projects

7 December 2013 – 22 February 2014
Eastside Projects will be closed 22 December 2013 – 8 January 2014

Photo: Stuart Whipps, courtesy of Eastside Projects Photo: Stuart Whipps, courtesy of Eastside Projects Photo: Stuart Whipps, courtesy of Eastside Projects

Trade Show is a group exhibition that exercises the function of art to exchange, present and enact different economic practices and cultures of trade. Over the last decades artists have claimed and reclaimed trade as a socio-cultural space by producing their own shops, swaps, stalls, deals, exchange centres and distribution systems.

The first trade of Trade Show is with the economic geographer Katherine Gibson who is writing an essay in exchange for James Langdon’s redesign of ‘The Economy as an Iceberg’, an illustration she has used in presentations around the world since 2001 to symbolize her feminist critique of political economy that focuses upon the limiting effects of representing economies as dominantly capitalist.

The exhibition presents trade as a universal activity deeply embedded in almost everything we do. Art proposes and enacts forms of trade that remind us of the possibilities and complexities of living in a society where everything must mean something, and everything must be worth something. ‘Trade Show’ contributes to a strong trading culture where roles are changeable, economies are collaborative and the imperative of a not-only-for-profit ethos prevails.

The ‘iceberg beneath the water’ is revealed within Eastside Projects as a series of trading stations take centre stage, including the International Village Shop, Feral Trade, Field Cycles, Editions Shop UK and Open Shop.

DO YOU WANT TO TRADE? Open Shop is a space available to ‘not only for profit’ enterprises, individuals, groups, and products from an open call. Contact us if you wish to be part of Trade Show.

The International Village Shop run by Myvillages is an ongoing trans-local production and distribution space for goods with strong local connections. For Trade Show the shop offers its biggest selection of collectively developed goods so far, alongside short production documentaries and a series of workshops.

Kate Rich sets up a Feral Trade depot at Eastside Projects, with coffee directly imported from Mexico and to be further distributed through social connections only. A Feral Trade Café with a broader range of produce and a series of events will open at Eastside Projects in January 2014.

Editions Shop UK attempts to bring together all of the artist editions available in the UK at present for sale to one venue. These ‘accessible’ artworks support individuals and institutions around the country, foster ideas of collecting, patronage and, above all, demonstrate the mutual support, and generosity of, artists and arts organisations like Eastside Projects – we support you and you support us.

On the facade of the building are a set of new signs by Birmingham based design studio An Endless Supply. The signs continue inside the main gallery identifying the array of trading moments around the space ranging from Jens Haaning’s Redistribution (Birmingham – Karachi), 2013, a new discrete poetic artwork that redistributes the gallery lighting and Bob & Roberta Smith’s 2013 painting Letter to Gove, to VALIE EXPORT’s seminal 1968 performance Tapp- und Tast-Kino (Tap and Touch Cinema).

In the second gallery CasCo will present a communal reader and Sitting is a Verb – Rietveld for (Un)usual business, a Rietveld crate chair workshop by artist Aimée Zito Lema. This sits within the framework of (Un)usual business, a long-term research collaboration between CasCo – Office for Art, Design and Theory and Kritische Studenten Utrecht (Critical Students Utrecht) that explores community economies.

OPEN SHOP: To book a time to use Open Shop contact info@eastsideprojects.org with an outline of your trading idea and a phone number to call you to discuss. Slots are available throughout the show.

The Paris-based R-Urban project by atelier d’architecture autogéréé will host a second stage of Trade Show in March 2014.

Shop Floor:

  • Carte Blanche

    Friendly Enemies wrapping paper for 50p.

  • Myvillages

    Horsemilksoap for £ 3.50

  • Kate Rich

    Cube Cola Concentrate, £ 7.00

  • Ditte Gantribis

    Untitled, edition of 12, £ 110

  • Feral Trade Cafe

    In Stock

    Feral Trade Cafe run by Kate Rich from Wed 15 – Sat 18 January, daily from 12-5 pm. Come for Blue Corn Tortilla, Krap Sandwich and best Mexican Hot Chocolate.

  • Ciara Phillips

    ‘Pull Everything Out’, edition of 100, £ 200

  • Kitty Clark

    ‘Two Queens’ by Kitty, 2013, edition of 100, £10

  • J.K. Gibson-Graham

    ‘Economic meltdown, or what an iceberg can tell us about the economy’, essay, free