No Soul for Sale

Why 'No Soul for Sale'? Are artists fed up with selling themselves out or is anyone really not-for-profit these days?

Maurizio Cattelan ' “No Soul For Sale” is first of all a tribute to the people, the artists and the art lovers who work beyond the traditional market system; it's about the people who keep art alive, during boom periods and during down periods. People who don't think in terms of investment or market logic: people who, instead, are interested in creating spaces and platforms for other artists and friends to present their work.'

Massimiliano Gioni 'It's not so much that artists are fed up with selling or with selling out. It's simply that so much ink has been spilled about the price of this and that and nobody really ever pays their respect to the people who work in situations in which there is very little money involved and yet a lot of energy and enthusiasm. If it didn't sound too much like a Mastercard ad, I would say that what the participants in “No Soul For Sale” have in common is that they invest their time, their knowledge, their energies, which are simply priceless.'

Cecilia Alemani 'In the end, it doesn't matter if you are really not-for-profit. What matters is how you handle your resources, who you support. What makes the difference is how resources are distributed: the participants in “No Soul For Sale” can do a lot with very little, and put all the resources they have in creating new spaces, and new, possible art worlds for other people to participate in. Rather than being about money or selling, “No Soul For Sale” is about hospitality and generosity.'

Vicente Todoli 'That's what interested us at Tate in this project. It's like Tate opened up its space to a village of art, and let people take over. Obviously we are not the only ones being hospitable here. All the participants are coming at their own expense: they only receive the space for free. So they are as generous as Tate, if not more. But that's when things get interesting: when people are willing to share, going beyond any immediate quantifiable gain.'

Is there not a risk that these artists and spaces at the margins will become themselves a bit institutionalised by being shown at the cathedral of culture that is Tate Modern? Or do you think that their creativity will instead tinge the institution with a little of their chaos and freedom?

MC 'I remember being in Venice and seeing a little dog running around in a church where there was also all these Renaissance paintings and hundreds of ex-votos and strange objects hanging from the ceiling. What always struck me about those images was that even churches used to be much more open and popular than we think of them now. Yes, Tate Modern is a cathedral, but it's also a strange bazaar and a great place to hang out: like the churches in those Venetian paintings, Tate is much more porous than we think. It's a museum I like a lot because it promotes a sort of mass elitism, which I find very contemporary.'

CA 'In general one could also say that the whole opposition - centre versus margin or underground versus mainstream - has dramatically changed in the last few years. “No Soul For Sale” is also about this shift: it recognizes that the role of Tate and of a small non-for-profit place in Beijing is in the end almost equal. It might be idealistic or romantic, but we do believe such different institutions are much closer than we think. Recently Davide Quadrio from ArtHub spoke of “de-institutions” to characterise the work of organisations that reinvent themselves and de-structure themselves. Maybe that's what Tate and these smaller groups have in common, the necessity to reinvent themselves, if they want to remain connected to art.'

MG 'And let's not forget that you don't become institutional by simply taking part in a three-day event at Tate: you talk to a different audience, you connect with other people, you show the art you believe in. It's not about being institutionalised but rather about creating a symbiotic, or parasitic, relationship with it.'

VT 'What did the Romans say? We are all dwarves on the shoulders of giants, aren't we?'

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