Frankfurter Kunst Vertrieb
Magma Maria
Frankfurter Kunst Vertrieb, 2021
Sales exhibition in the space of the Frankfurter Kunstverein and on eBay Kleinanzeigen online shop
Courtesy all participating artists
Magma Maria is the name of an artists’ collective consisting of a varying number of participants and temporarily occupying locations in Offenbach and Frankfurt. The Frankfurter Kunstverein has invited the independent initiative Magma Maria to present the sales exhibition Frankfurter Kunst Vertrieb parallel to the exhibition And This is Us 2021 – Young Art from Frankfurt.
Along the ground floor window façade of the Steinernes Haus, artworks will be exhibited and offered for sale in several cycles over the summer. Over 170 works received through an open call will be made visible to a wide audience without curation. The works can be purchased on site during opening hours or via the specially created eBay project website. 100% of the proceeds from the sale of the artworks will go to the artists.
The non-profit action is based on a gesture of solidarity, as a response to the pandemic and the resulting reduction in opportunities for young artists to present themselves. It is organised on a voluntary basis by Jakob Francisco, Malte Möller and Lena Stewens as part of the Magma Maria collective. Students and young artists born after 1990 and working in Frankfurt, Offenbach or the Rhine-Main region were eligible to participate. For organisational reasons, the selection was limited to two-dimensional works, i.e. painting, drawing, graphics or photography. Each participant was allowed to submit one work.
With this project, the actors of Magma Maria have professionally implemented all aspects of the art system, from the gathering of works, communication with participants, the presentation in space and the digital sphere, the inventory and the sale. With their activity, they have used the possibilities of the Frankfurter Kunstverein, under their own set of rules, to involve the incredible number of over 170 other artists in the institutionally organised exhibition.
Despite the explicit renunciation of a curatorial selection, Magma Maria has succeeded in enriching the institutional exhibition of the Frankfurter Kunstverein with an essential position, through which an even more comprehensive picture of young art production in the Rhine-Main area becomes visible. As young artists, they are part of a network of artists who are at the beginning of their careers and for whom institutional visibility is a compelling moment in their work. Magma Maria and its protagonists stand for an attitude of self-empowerment. They themselves create the condition of public visibility, which is essential for artists, and create economic structures beyond the established channels of art sales.