Dead Darlings is putting on a mini-edition of our anonymous art auction at Unseen. This edition will be a little more experimental, exploring some new ideas and playing around with a slightly different structure for our auction.

Instead of an open call, this time we are inviting 15 artists to submit one photograph that will be on view and auctioned off during the fair. The catch: none of the artists we are inviting are photographers. 

This time, there will also be a standardized starting price of 25 euro, and as per Dead Darlings tradition, the names will not be revealed until after the sale.

We chose photography, not only because it is the focus of Unseen, but also because it is a medium commonly used by both artists and dilettantes, often blurring the lines between fine and applied arts.

We think it’s interesting to see how people who may be established artists in their respective fields, will approach making or selecting a photograph as an artwork and if the fact that they are artists will be somehow evident in the images they provide.

Is an artist going to produce an artwork no matter what he or she makes?

Is a photograph transformed into an artwork by context or simply if it is intended to function as one?

Will there be parallels between the works of artists depending on their discipline? 

Will it be easy for the audience to guess?

The works are both instantly ‘unseen’ and ‘dead darlings on arrival’ because they are pieces that would not normally be produced and shown to the world. For this reason we will not limit the artists to a theme; we feel the theme is inherent in this idiosyncratic assignment.

Stay tuned to learn the names of the 15 chosen artists and auction schedule!

To find out more, here is a recent article about the upcoming Unseen Amsterdam Photo Fair and Festival 2017.

—Dead Darlings,
Amsterdam

Dead Darlings is putting on a mini-edition of our anonymous art auction at Unseen. This edition will be a little more experimental, exploring some new ideas and playing around with a slightly different structure for our auction.

Instead of an open call, this time we are inviting 15 artists to submit one photograph that will be on view and auctioned off during the fair. The catch: none of the artists we are inviting are photographers. 

This time, there will also be a standardized starting price of 25 euro, and as per Dead Darlings tradition, the names will not be revealed until after the sale.

We chose photography, not only because it is the focus of Unseen, but also because it is a medium commonly used by both artists and dilettantes, often blurring the lines between fine and applied arts.

We think it’s interesting to see how people who may be established artists in their respective fields, will approach making or selecting a photograph as an artwork and if the fact that they are artists will be somehow evident in the images they provide.

Is an artist going to produce an artwork no matter what he or she makes?

Is a photograph transformed into an artwork by context or simply if it is intended to function as one?

Will there be parallels between the works of artists depending on their discipline? 

Will it be easy for the audience to guess?

The works are both instantly ‘unseen’ and ‘dead darlings on arrival’ because they are pieces that would not normally be produced and shown to the world. For this reason we will not limit the artists to a theme; we feel the theme is inherent in this idiosyncratic assignment.

Stay tuned to learn the names of the 15 chosen artists and auction schedule!

To find out more, here is a recent article about the upcoming Unseen Amsterdam Photo Fair and Festival 2017.

—Dead Darlings,
Amsterdam