The Value of Nothing

On Thursday 4 September, TENT opens The Value of Nothing: a project comprising an a group exhibition, five new commissioned projects, Field Work Residencies and an extensive public program on shifts in thinking about the concept of value and economy, and the position of art therein.

How can we rethink the concept of value without departing from common financial and economic standards? What alternatives are there to determining what is valuable? How is the immaterial valued? The Value of Nothing shows artistic practices and projects that arise out of or concentrate on different economies, new value systems, and alternative work strategies.

The core of the project comprises five new projects by Jeanne van Heeswijk, Helmut Smits, Meschac Gaba, Remco Torenbosch and Jonas Lund. The projects address the role of the market, alternative forms of valuation or the changing meaning of economic exchange.

Investigating the artist's role in the everyday economy, Gil & Moti, Roel Roscam Abbing, Kym Ward, and Weronika Zielinska will be artists in residence at companies in Rotterdam, including a hotel, a cleaning company, and a debt collection agency. The artists are making proposals for changes in the business culture that can lead to an increase in value. The residency process is evaluated and discussed in meetings with students from the Erasmus University College.

A layered public program for diverse age groups focuses on the exhibition's themes. In cooperation with the artist Helmut Smits, a game has been developed for young people in which the rules are based on valuation. In Friday afternoon sessions, topics from the exhibition are discussed with a special guest, and the strategies for a new business culture are presented. Writer and curator Nat Muller proposes three evenings, which, with scientists and journalists, take an in-depth look at the status of the artist, the market, and the institute, all through the lens of a highly globalized art world.

The Value of Nothing is curated by Jesse van Oosten (TENT) and Michel van Dartel (independent curator, V2_) and stems from the debate series Current Values, which TENT organized in 2013.