Performance

-2021-

Loudspeaker announcements: audio recording, edition of 3, I

Jankowski developed Aktionsangebote for an exhibition placed in a supermarket in central Munich.
Works by different artists were on display across the supermarket. There was a bronze melon by Alicja Kwade, sitting among the real melons in the fruit and vegetable section. Thomas Rentmeister blocked off one of the aisles with packets of biscuits. In the supermarket, art was arranged as everyday items in slight disarray. Jankowski used this as an occasion to condense texts from curators and PR representatives into “special offers”, which various employees broadcast on supermarket loudspeakers. While the exhibition was on, hourly announcements were made. The climax of the sound installation was an announcement in which the installation sold itself, thus creating a chimera of a standalone artwork and sale: “Dear customers, listen up because we’re offering you something very special. It is no less than the special offer you are hearing on our supermarket loudspeaker… You, the customer, will receive enlightening insights in the form of contemporary marketing strategies relating to works of fine art as well as goods on offer at the supermarket. Buy this latest masterpiece by the profiteer and connoisseur of mass media! It is available in a limited edition of just 3 and is available in a deluxe collector’s box at cash register 6 for just 10,000 euros. Naturally, each one comes with a signed certificate… Even if you don’t yet own your own art collection, this piece is charged with the intellectual energy of twenty other artists and would form a solid foundation for the start of your own collection. As is always the case with Jankowski’s work, this piece examines new questions around art as well as everyday life and engagement, so listen up and… make a purchase.”
These Aktionsangebote are like guided tours that teach customers as well as employees about the artworks, but they also represent shrewd marketing strategies, not unlike press releases and curatorial texts in galleries.