THE FINAL BID | Michael Pinsky

Sustainability is a subject that none of us can afford to ignore today. But the word is used in so many different ways that it is in danger of deteriorating into an empty sound bite, and of triggering a sense of overwhelming challenge rather than motivation. Many people wonder if they can make any difference at all and what possible measures they might take.
British artist Michael Pinsky makes this the starting point for his processual installation The Final Bid, which he will be premiering at the Draiflessen Collection. What makes up the largest portion of our average greenhouse gas emissions here in Germany is not air travel, energy consumption, or food, but — at about 4 tons per person — the consumption of manufactured goods such as furniture, clothing, and appliances.

Museum as a sales platform
In a playful way, Pinsky invites people to take an active step and interrupt the never-ending flow of new goods in a symbolic action. For this he has chosen the iconic object of the chair. Everyone needs at least one chair. Indeed, countless numbers of chairs already exist. Instead of always purchasing new ones and thus consuming more resources, the artist proposes that we reuse the chairs we already have. To this end, he is transforming the museum into a sales platform and asking that no-longer-needed chairs be brought to the museum. Inside the exhibition space, they become part of an installation, which is quite literally set in motion by an auction process. Arising out of the interplay of the bids is a constantly changing sculptural ensemble, which dissolves again at the end.

THE FINAL BID
 The project plays with the idea of collecting artifacts and the value these objects gain when they are placed in a museum context. While some of the chairs may have great sentimental value, they are generally worth little from a commercial point of view. In the tradition of the ready-made, they are momentarily taken out of their functional context and become a sculpture to be looked at, rather than being pieces of furniture to be sat upon. After their purchase, however, the chairs return to their previous use.