Installation

-2021-

Installation: 2 LED ticker tapes, running text, dimensions variable, edition of 3, I

Everyone knows that money can be a taboo topic in the creative industry, especially when the honour of a commission turns into dishonour, should one have to ask for their promised payment. This is exactly what happened to Jankowski’s very dear friend, a curator who was commissioned by an artist and peer to write a catalogue essay. The artist refused to publish and pay for the work, even though it was revised twice to suit his changing requirements. Witnessing the compromising situation of his friend, Jankowski tried to mediate but finally confronted the artist over his misbehaviour in a conversation via text message (respecting the choice not to publish a commissioned text but not accepting the total lack of compensation and acknowledgement). After a series of excuses, the artist finally dropped out of the conversation. Around the same time Jankowski was invited to create a work for an exhibition using ticker tape, and saw his opportunity to find satisfaction through You Can Talk to Me about Many Crisis.

In this work, Jankowski ran both the artist-to-artist message exchange and the curator’s essay through two ticker tape digital displays, a medium originally used for financial communications, exhibiting the scrolling texts in separate gallery windows. The name of the artist was highlighted and replaced in the essay display with “the artist who commissioned this text and refused to pay for it”. Through the disclosure and its repositioning, Jankowski thematizes the topics of accountability, professional dependencies, interpersonal tensions, revenge, and Robin Hood syndrome, documenting an unresolved conflict and its origin. To finish business, Jankowski transferred his exhibition fee to the curator as compensation for her work.

 

 

Installation views of the ticker tape work You Can Talk to Me about Many Crisis, at NICC Expo Ticker Tape Antwerp & Brussels, 2021. Photo credit: Cel Crabeels