Scotland on Sunday 28th nov 1993 Review section

K Foundation tries to turn the art world on its head

The award for the worst art work of 1993 was nailed down with the 
help of Robert Dawson Scott
 
The mysterious K Foundation have let it be known through their agents 
- for no one gets to speak to them directly - that they delighted with 
their guerrilla raid on the high ground of British cultural life last 
Tuesday night.
    And well they might be. Every media orginization which reported 
that Rachel Whiteread had won the 20,000 Turner prize on Wednesday 
morning also reported that she had been adwarded the K Foundation's 
alternative award for the worst art work in Britain in 1993. Most 
carried pictures of the unruly melee on the steps of the Tate Gallery 
where the "award", consisting of 40,000 in 50 notes nailed to a 
piece of wood in a gilt frame, was chained to the railings as the 
great and the good who had attended the official dinner began to 
trickle out.
    As a publicity stunt it will take some beating, even though Bow 
Community Council, which the same day took the decision to destroy 
her sculpture House - her inside out cast of an East End house - 
nearly overshadowed everything. The K Foundation's alternative award 
was first announced in national press advertisments earlier in the 
autumn. Then on Tuesday night a posse of journalists was ferried to 
an unknown destination in a fleet of seven white stretch limousines, 
told only that what they were about to witness would alter art 
history.
    As one of those present I can confirm that the money was 
undoubtedly genuine; in a floodlit clearing in a Surrey wood, 
patrolled by two bright orange armoured cars playing the Red Army 
chorus version of K Sera Sera (sic) over loudspeakers, we were the 
ones who nailed down wads of 1,600 in crisp new 50 notes which we 
had been given on the journey there.
    The K Foundation then announced the award had been given to 
Rachel Whiteread. This was before the official announcement of the 
Turner prize; I know this because in the limos which now headed back 
to the Tate, we were able to watch the announcement live on 
television, framed by commercial breaks in which the K Foundation had 
bought air-time to aannounce what they were doing. it spent 20,000 
on the commercials, carefully chosen to match the value of the Turner 
prize. Copies of the invoices were supplied as evidence.
    So was this the most expensive practical joke in history? I think 
not; the two men behind the K Foundation, Bill Drummond and Jimmy 
Cauty, made their stash as the KLF (Kopyright Liberation Front) with 
a string of succesful records in the late 1980's and early 1990's. 
But their whole approach to the pop industry was that it is 
essentially ridiculous, a termite-hill of the overpaid and 
undertalented which could be taken for a ride almost at will. They 
even produced a manual (How to Have a Number One the Easy Way) to 
emphasise their contempt. At the height of their powers, in the 
middle of the Brit awards last year, having been named best group, 
they announced their retirement and the deletion of their entire back 
catelogue.
    What they have moved on to is the art world, another milieu where 
genuine creativity, pretension and large amounts of money collide in 
random patterns. At the woodland clearing on Tuesday, we were invited 
to view part of what was supposed to be a future exhibition with the 
title Money - A Major Body of Cash. The one work, Nailed to the wall 
and labelled just as in more conventional exhibitions, consisted of 
1m sterling in 50 notes nailed to a wall constructed of skip pine. 
I am fairly confident it really was 1m. The "Excerpts from a 
Catalogue" on offer say it is to be auctioned with a reserve price of 
500,000. A series of other works are all listed all involving cash 
and all for sale at half the face value.
    As the K Foundation says, at present the worrks have an artistic 
value of zero. it points out that over the years the face value will 
erode due to inflation whereas the artistic value may rise and 
invites potential purchasers to take a risk on the point that the two 
values will cross over or "deconstruct the work now and double your 
money".
    Some of Scotland's leading artists clearly share the K Foundations
awareness of how money perverts everything. Others dismiss them as 
pranksters. A selection of opinion follows.

Artistic Impressions

"It's an elaborate prank but it's got a point and it's definitely 
amusing. It's putting it's finger on something which is true about 
the whole game of valuing and creating value out of art. The K 
Foundation is quite right that the history of art of this period will 
be completely rewritten and the majority of short-listed artists for 
the Turner prize will be forgotten."
Julian Spalding, director Glasgow Museums and Galleries

"They're just a bunch of silly buggers. It's good to see money going 
from a bunch of silly buggers to an artist who is going to make 
good use of it. What's that saying about a fool and his money...?"
David Mach, sculptor

"The emotional, artistic side of my nature says I admire the audacity 
and imagination, challenging art and the art manipulators. The 
rational side of me asks, is this the most expensive art publicity 
stunt this century, and for whom?"
John Bellany, painter