Rubbings for 20 dollars; Bootlegs for 100 dollars

Studio REV- at SPRING/BREAK Art Fair 2019

Bootlegger: Alix Lambert: March 5, 11am–2pm
Bootlegger: Kristin Lucas: March 6, 11am–2pm
Bootleggers: Alex Schweder & Sina Basila: March 6, 2–5pm
Bootlegger: LoVid: March 8, 11am–2pm
Bootlegger: Yara Travieso: March 8, 5–7pm
Bootleggers: Lauren McCarthy and D. Graham Burnett: March 9, 2–5pm
Best and Worst of the Bootleg!: March 9, 5–6pm, Join the people’s jury for this event
Bootlegger(s): Sawako Nakayasu and Kenya (Robinson): March 10, 2–5pm
Bootleggers: eteam: March 11, 11am–2pm

Artists and Bootleggers: Aisha Abuova, Sarula Bao, D. Graham Burnett, e-team, Lauren Kelley, Alix Lambert, Steve Lambert, LoVid, Kristin Lucas, Lauren McCarthy, Sawako Nakayasu, Marisa Olson, Mariah Robertson, Kenya (Robinson), Alex Schweder, Yara Travieso, Penelope Umbrico, Nomeda and Gediminas Urbonas

Architect/Designer: Darío Núñez-Ameni, Atelier DNA
Chief Instigator, Curator, Artistic Director: Marisa Morán Jahn, MIT, The New School, Studio REV-
Collaborating Curator: Amy Rosenblum Martín, independent curator; Educator, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum

“[It is the] parasite who has the last word, who produces disorder and who generates a different order…”
–Michel Serres, The Parasite

A colorful booth within 2019’s SPRING/BREAK Art Fair NYC, Rubbings for 20 dollars; Bootlegs for 100 dollars complicates the fetishization of the originary artwork, celebrating instead the knock-off, the simulacra, and that which is pirated many times over. According to the logic of Rubbings for 20 dollars; Bootlegs for 100 dollars, the greater the infidelity, degradation, and remove from the originary artwork—the more valuable a bootleg in fact becomes. Here, the new mark of authenticity becomes the messy trail of the bootleg as it wrests away from its signifier. The works in Rubbings for 20 dollars; Bootlegs for 100 dollars abolish the legitimate and hail the bastard; the absolute makes way for versionhood.

There are 2 parts of this booth as follows:

Rubbings for 20 dollars 
rubbings (aka frottage)
(1) the technique or process of taking a rubbing from an uneven surface to form the basis of a work of art.
(2) the practice of touching or rubbing against the clothed body of another person in a crowd as a means of obtaining sexual gratification.

For 20 USD, visitors will be invited to purchase a sheet of vellum (tracing paper) and trace a set of curated 2D drawings. By tracing the drawing—or multiple drawings at once—participants will be able to feel the hand of the artist, heightening their appreciation of the work’s draughtsmanship; the flesh of the paper and vellum pressed close. Imagine tracing the edge of one drawing, capturing the edges of the drawing pinned down, the corner of the adjacent drawing: this is a celebration of art as site, event, and set of contingencies. By “rubbing” drawings created by emerging alongside established artists, the gesture elevates and legitimates both artists, functioning as a value-adding power within the context of an art fair.  

Bootlegs for 100 dollars
For 100 USD, visitors can place an “order” for a bootleg. As in, “I’d like a bootleg of the sculpture by [so and so] in booth #18.” A team of specially curated artists will “interpret” that work of art, translating it into a performance, an abstract painting, or a poem—no holds barred bootlegging. The only rule is that the bootleg cannot be rendered in the same medium as the originary work. Now, visitors and viewers will hungrily clamor for another artist’s rendition of the originary work. The adage that “You know you’ve made it when someone has bootlegged your artwork” now becomes, “You know you’ve made it when someone commissions you to bootleg someone else’s artwork.”

This initiative is inspired by Ugandan “VJs” who translate commercially pirated Hollywood, Nollywood, and Bollywood films info local languages. One VJ dubs all the film’s voices, liberally translating, and slipping in jokes to create their own signature flavor. In Uganda, VJs are superstars.

About
Studio REV- is a non-profit organization that co-designs public art and creative media with artists, media makers, techies, low-wage workers, and youth. Key projects include El Bibliobandido (a story-eating bandit), Video Slink Uganda (films slipped or “slinked” into Ugandan bootleg cinemas), two mobile studios (NannyVan, CareForce One) and a PBS/ITVS film series that amplifies the voices of America’s fastest growing workforce—caregivers. Studio REV-’s work has been featured at worker centers, The White House, the Museum of Modern Art, Tribeca Film Festival, and more. Studio REV-’s work has been awarded grants from Creative Capital, Tribeca Film Institute, Sundance, and in 2018 was nominated for the prestigious Visible Award.