The Art Lottery

In 2023 I responded to an open call from NICC (New International Cultural Centre) for a publication celebrating 25 years of fighting for artists’ rights. This open call is the start of an artistic campaign to engage art galleries and museums to give artists a chance. Are you interested in offering one of my art lottery systems? Please contact me for more information.

For the majority of artists, there are few opportunities and support. The power structures of the art world arere archaic and still predominantly patriarchal. As it stands, being an artist, in this day and age, is like trying to win the lottery. You need a whole lot of luck to navigate, to get noticed, to get recognition. You need a whole lot of luck to get someone to visit your studio, to get picked up by a commercial gallery, to sell a painting. You can’t really put all the blame on those mostly rich white men running this shit show. They’re just trying to find the next big thing and sell it for as much as possible. It’s a business where only a few are lucky enough to participate. But art is so much more than that: it’s connecting with people, with other artists, communicating, and expressing your ideas… Art is an essential part of society but is still not treated as such. Unfortunately, but also thankfully, social media seems to be the primary place artists are free to share and connect. But what we need is real connection, real visibility, more community and support!

Money is the solution to everything, so the most obvious solution would be for the government to continue to make funding available to the arts and to artists in the form of subsidies- alas this doesn’t seem to be happening, on the contrary.

So my proposal is to implement an Art Lottery System organized by the government. A Lottery System would increase chances for artists, and artists would feel they might get lucky. For instance, the government could implement a system where the public can buy raffle tickets to win an art piece by an Established Artist. Proceeds from the raffle would be invested in funding for arts/artist subsidizing and the purchase of the art that is being won.

The system would be modeled after the National Lottery System. This System would also sensitize the population to the necessaty of culture and art. With governmental support, sub-systems can be implemented by individual galleries and other organizations and institutions to further support individual artists and co-operations and increase their chances at getting Lucky.

Two sub-categories of this National Art Lottery have already been implemented:

The Grab:

An Art Lottery Jar is placed in the gallery or museum. Artists are invited to drop their name and contact information in the jar. Each week/month a name is pulled from the jar. The artist gets a studio visit by the gallery director or curator.

Installations:

SMAK, Ghent - December 2023 during NICCx25

Kunsthal Mechelen - April 2024

The Fifty:

Artists over 50 are invited to drop their name into a jar at the gallery/museum. One or more artists will be picked out of the jar and be invited to participate in a Wunderwall or a group exhibition.

Installations:

Gallery Ben Bennaouisse - March 2024