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22
MEDIA
EXPERIMENT / EVENT
THE
ARTISTIC SQUARE METER
MEDIA
COVERAGE (print, radio, T.V.), ESPACE CARDIN-HÔTEL LE
CRILLON, PARIS
MARCH–OCTOBER 1977
An
ingenious parody of the speculative practices common to both
the real estate and art markets, this major example of tactical
“information art” relies on the subversive effect
of “parasitical” pieces of information introduced
into the echo chamber of the mass media for the purpose of
playing off—and hence exposing—the internal contradictions
of centers of power/rackets that rely on the hording and control
of information in a particular field. The artist creates an
authentic real estate company for the purpose of promoting
square meter lots—all part of a remote tract of land
in the countryside near the Franco-Swiss border—that
are officially designated as “artistic” square
meters in papers filed at the local title office. He then
places “for sale” ads in several prominent national
and international publications and announces that the first
of the “artistic” square meters is to be auctioned
off at Le Crillon. The artist is interrogated at police headquarters
at the request of the Interior Ministry, which later intervenes
to block the public sale on the grounds of false advertising
and suspected real estate fraud. The artistic square meter
of land is replaced at the last minute with a “non-artistic”
square meter of fabric. The auction proceeds and the mundane
cloth fetches a high price, no doubt driven up by the publicity
the whole affair has generated—a denouement that prompts
the art critic Pierre Restany to formally declare that the
non-artistic square meter was indeed a true work of art!
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