The auctioneer's podium, Dead Darlings #5 — Master Piece, 2010. Photo: Niels Post.

For Dead Darlings #5, it was again one of our former participants who saw the opportunity to place us in one of the satellite locations of Art Rotterdam, — our first ever event outside our Amsterdam safety zone.

Dead Darlings #5 — Master Piece, 2010. Photo: Niels Post.

We collaborated with De Zwarte Ruyter, to make an event entitled Masterpiece. This asked for a work that artists made with the intention of creating a masterpiece, a very ambitious undertaking that did not somehow fulfill its promise of becoming a career milestone…

Photographs from the event

Here we wanted to touch upon the notions of hubris and failure. In spite of those things, the glimmer of brilliance is resilient and survived within those fallen giants. The proof for that is still in our magnificent catalogue.

Dead Darlings #5 — Master Piece, 2010. Photo: Niels Post.

One could say it was an overnight success, since it was super fun for all involved, the works sold, buyers were happy with their ‘cheap’ but authentic art, and when people asked if the money would go to charity, we kept telling them: the artists are the charity!

Participating Artists: