ANONYMOUS DRAWINGS
How are our judgements about art affected by our knowledge of the artist’s name and background? How is the value of a drawing determined? Where is the boundary between art and non-art?
Around 700 drawings by 700 international artists are featured in each exhibition of ANONYMOUS DRAWINGS. The works are presented with no mention of authorship or title. The drawings are offered for sale at a symbolic price of 250€ each. The artists will receive 200€ per sale, the remaining 50€ will be used to realise the open calls and the exhibitions. The identity of the artist is revealed only after the work is sold: Sold drawings will be taken right off the wall and the empty space left behind will be marked with the artist‘s full name and place of origin. As individual drawings gradually disappear from the walls over the course of the exhibition, the original installation view changes bit by bit. The names and places of origin of artists whose works have been sold fill in the gaps. The given unit sales price should not be seen as a real market price, but as a conceptual place holder for any conceivable amount of money in the art market.
Every exhibition is preceded by an International Open Call for Submissions. There are no guidelines specifying content; the only requirement is that the drawings are no bigger than A3. Age, biography or gender will not be requested to be disclosed and do not play any role in the final selection of works. The selection will be made on the basis of anonymized image files. The artists then ship the original drawings to Berlin. Everyone is eligible, the participation is free of charge.
ANONYMOUS DRAWINGS is conceptual art and exhibition project all in one: Each and every artist becomes part of a collective work of art where hierarchies are enitrely absent.
The ANONYMOUS DRAWINGS ARCHIVE came into being through all Anonymous drawings exhibitions since 2006. This archive of more than 1500 drawings from all over the world can be shown as a traveling exhibition nationally and internationally. All archived works are artists’ donations supporting the project. The archive changes continuously with every sale and with every call for participation. The archived works are available for sale HERE.
ANONYMOUS DRAWINGS was founded 2006 by the artist ANKE BECKER in Berlin, Germany.
The following exhibitions will be shown at Kunstraum Kreuzberg / Bethanien (November 2024 - January 2025), at Kunsthaus Erfurt (February 2025 ) and in May 2025 at Hyperculturalpassengers in Hamburg, Germany.
The next call for participation will be in 2026. Those who are interested can sign up for our MAILING LIST.