I am a painter and comic artist and want to propose a new cartoon titled “Emergency protocol in the Art World” , a series of 4-panel cartoon-strips which satirically point out and critique social protocol in the contemporary art world.
Particular social actions and interactions as performed by artists, gallerists or art-collectors, that can seem absurd and funny to a lay person or if seen at a distance, but which in-fact serve, to create value and uphold and defend a complex economic system.
What might feel time-less and just “how things are done” are infact a set of unconscious protocols that emerged historically from threats and crises to that system. The cartoon “Emergency Protocol in the Art-World” will look at these performative norms and explore what the role of protocol is in the strange system we call the contemporary art-world.
In particular, like other social protocols, they are fuzzy, not documented or articulated, non-programmatic, revolve around what not to do rather than what to do. Nevertheless, what they share with many programmatic protocols is a fundamental concern with conserving and reinforcing each party’s position of credibility, trustworthiness and power.
For my cartoons I take inspiration from my mentors: The American painter Amy Sillman’s satirical seating charts and diagrams (which poke fun at the social hierarchies of the art-world conveyed by the seating arrangements made at work dinners organised by galleries) and by the book “On the Benefit of Friendship” by art-historian Isabelle Graw, which explores the utility value of friendship in the context of capitalism and the competitive art market.
To see my art-work please visit my website:
https://babettesemmer.com/category/painting/