Review of “No Soul For Sale” at the Tate Modern on Canadian Art online

The Tate Modern held a 10th anniversary celebration last weekend called “No Soul For Sale: A Festival of Independents” that featured 70 nonprofit and artist-run organizations from around the world, all organized like some crazy family fun fair-meets-art carnival in the institution’s famous Turbine Hall. I was lucky enough to go check it out on Friday afternoon before the huge crowds descended on Saturday (when I stupidly went back, only to force my way through the corridors like I was at a rock concert at El Mocambo) and to spend some time with some of the installations.

Now, my review/report of the event – which featured three Vancouver ARCs, the Western Front, the Or Gallery and Artspeak – is up on Canadian Art online with details about the good, the bad and the ugly at the fair. On top of the execution of the fair being a bit of a grab-bag affair, as Stephanie Vegh and several other critics have noted, there seem to have been other nefarious goings on behind the scenes: namely, that most of the participants were not paid for their travel, accommodation or artist fees. I can completely sympathize with the ARCs who participated wanting the exposure and experience, but I also wonder if more attention could have been drawn to the sketchy lack of funding if more organizations had (pointedly and publicly) said “no” to the invitation.