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ART HOUSE INDEX (performance) (2013)

Research on ART HOUSE INDEX was publicly presented for the first time in the form of a lecture- performance in a conference room in the Marmara Hotel on Taksim Square during the public program of the 13th Istanbul Biennial. Referencing the ceremonial launching of companies on the stock market, the performance was presented as an IPO (Initial Public Offering).

The conference room was installed in a corporate media set up. A green-key screen was installed behind the artists. A camera and sound crew was present to record the presentation. The audience was integrated in the set, a prospectus on the financial product was on the tables in front of them. Art House Index was visualized in a short publicity clip.

The performance itself was a screened putative Skype conversation between the artists at one end of the room, and a financial analyst on a projection screen at the other end of the room. Together they discussed the best way to make the 'house as art work' liquid. In the second half of the performance, after the Skype connection was lost, the analyst returns on Skype, but this time instead of live images of a busy office behind him, there's a green key as backdrop. At that moment the audience present in the conference room realizes that the whole 'live' discussion was staged. The performance formally questioned their confidence in the presentation on the intricate mechanisms and motives for developing a financial tool, a device for which confidence and trust are crucial conditions.

Adding to the Brechtian alienation of the presentation was the fact that the performance itself that night was interrupted by activists who were protesting the corporate sponsorship of the Istanbul Biennial and its (in)direct role in gentrification issues in the city of Istanbul.

Reflecting on what happened in Istanbul, while rewriting the performance as a film script, Vermeir & Heiremans decided to integrate the protests and themselves as artists explicitly in their film MASQUERADE.

For more information on the performance and the protests in Istanbul: http://artforum.com/diary/id=41191
Preview of the short publicity clip on Vimeo: https://vimeo.com/77031534

A review in NY Arts magazine on the conference 'Speculating on Change' at CA2M, Madrid, where Art House Index was performed in June 2013.

www.nyartsmagazine.com/

Art House Index a lecture/performance by Vermeir & Heiremans in collaboration with Werner Van Steen as the financial analyst, Amir Borenstein (animation), Justin Bennett (sound), Salome Schmuki (graphics). A Limited Editions Production supported by the Flemish Community. Distribution: JUBILEE