As contemporary art prices continue to spiral upwards, how about buying a bit of an artwork rather than the whole thing?
The unusual idea is at the heart of a charity exhibition and sale raising money for Macmillan Cancer Support, opening to the public at Somerset House in London on Thursday.
The project, called Shared, invited artists to submit work that would be broken down and sold in parts.
Those taking part include Richard Wentworth, Richard Wilson, Bouke de Vries, Idris Khan and Annie Morris.
De Vries, known for artworks made from broken ceramics, is offering a series of photographs of fragments of a broken Han dynasty earthenware vase. The eight photographs are priced at £700 each plus VAT.
Wilson has divided a 2013 collage, A Ships’ Opera – Thames Festival, into five parts, each for £500 plus VAT. He said it was like “the miracle of the five loaves and two fishes played out through a contemporary art charity exhibition”.
Wilson added: “Great idea to take one work and distribute it to some, with all the possibility of a future reuniting as a special occasion. It’s exciting to be involved with unusual ideas when it comes to charity fundraising initiatives with a twist.”
Some of the artworks are being broken down into 10 pieces; others two or three. The curator Kathleen Soriano said: “Shared has been developed with a view to challenging artists to think outside of their normal practice and to be inventive in considering how their own work might support such a concept.”
The initiative is part of the Macmillan De Llonghi arts programme, now in its 10th year. The programme chair Dea Vanagan said: “We wanted to evolve from the traditional formula of asking artists to donate work for charity auction, towards a fundraising programme that is fresh and ambitious.
“This new concept embraces Macmillan’s core ethos of community and support by allowing buyers to effectively become collective caretakers of a work. We are overwhelmed with the generosity of the artists and are delighted to have Kathleen Soriano helping us radically change the way we raise vital funds for people affected by cancer.”
During the four-day exhibition there will be raffles and an interactive performance by the artist Eloise Fornieles.
