left gallery: rite of access — press release and works

Stroom Den Haag, Hogewal 1-9, The Hague. 7 September – 20 October 2019; opening Saturday 7 September, 17:00; open Wednesday to Sunday, 12–17. Text and list of works from left gallery's collection page, as archived on 12 December 2019 (source); Stroom's agenda page carries a version of the same text (Stroom). Wiki reading: left gallery (2015–2022), under rite of access (Stroom Den Haag, 2019). On harm.work as left gallery: rite of access.

Press release (left gallery)

from 7 september – 20 october 2019 left gallery will take residence in a brick and mortar public art institution: stroom den haag.

left gallery is an online platform that produces and sells works of art as downloadable objects. These objects exist in limited editions, available for purchase. once purchased, buyers receive a cryptographic 'token' as proof of ownership. in rite of access, this token mechanism creates the conditions to access the works on display: engagement of visitors, such as purchases and social media activity operate as a stream of credit, which allow the works to remain on view. follow left gallery on twitter or subscribe to the mailinglist, and the time to see the complete works increases; unlike its pages, and access may be denied. a purchase made through left gallery anywhere in the world extends the display of the works at stroom den haag. so long as sufficient credit remains, visitors can access all works within the project.

left gallery investigates access to public art by transforming notions of ownership. by guaranteeing the artificial scarcity of objects in their portfolio, left gallery seeks to uncover the invisible degrees of access that are encoded in consuming art in a public institution. through the proposal of a model that democratises ownership of works of art, the stroom gallery space operates as a 'serving suggestion', showing how the works could be installed in a domestic setting once purchased.

the objects in rite of access represent part of left gallery's portfolio as well as new works, commissioned for this project. works include screensavers, a flight simulator, ebooks, an alarm clock, apps, merch, and an AI assistant.

left gallery is the second guest in the programme "our house, your home", in which stroom den haag invites international organisations to take over the exhibition space, to do the things they find most urgent, fitting, or challenging.

the programme of stroom is made possible through the generous support of the Mondriaan Fonds and the City of The Hague - Municipality.

exhibition design by laurel schwulst. many thanks to paloma rodríguez carrington, justice thélot, sam hart, and full node berlin.

Curators

harm van den dorpel, emer m. grant, and lua vollaard

Included works

As listed on the collection page (title, format, artists; the page prints them in lower case):

• flight simulator — pins — by schwulst, soft, and akkapeddi
• oracle alarm — .mobile — by van den dorpel, schwulst and soft
• retrodiction — .m3u — by habib william kherbek
• a work by margarethe kollmer, without a title, marked "upcoming"
• faith — .app .exe — by ryan kuo
• beyond the nation state — .mp4 — by dorine van meel
• bubamara ocr — .app .exe — by adriana ramić
• flight simulator — .mobile — by laurel schwulst and soft
• calendars.earth — .saver — by micah schippa
• twodom — .app .exe — by viktor timofeev
• amazon worker cage — poster — by simon denny
• merch clouds — poster — by harm van den dorpel
• extended youth — poster — by omsk social club
• bubamara ocr — poster — by adriana ramić

Stroom's version

Stroom's agenda page gives the same mechanism with two differences of wording ("Follow the left gallery page on twitter and the time to see the complete works increases; unlike left gallery, and access may be denied"), lists the works as "screensavers, a flight simulator, e-books, an alarm clock, apps, and an AI assistant", names the contributors "William Habib Kherbek, Margarethe Kollmer, Ryan Kuo, Dorine van Meel, Viktor Timofeev, Adriana Ramic, Harm van den Dorpel, Laurel Schwulst, Micah Schippa, Aarati Akkapedi, Simon Denny and others", and adds two related events: Video Club: the one minutes at the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam on 6 September 2019, guest-curated by van den Dorpel with The One Minutes foundation, and a curator tour of rite of access during Museumnacht Den Haag on 5 October 2019. Its first guest in Our House, your Home had been the Visual Culture Research Center from Kyiv. The page lists a feature in Metropolis M of 6 September 2019 under press.