Mashiro Tamura

When the gavel hits the wood, it is sold, at whatever price it would be. whAT a dreaM.
Imagine, something that you own, you put it up on auction, then it sells at the price of a house, a mansion, a palace. But also, you never know, one day it could just become a baby dollhouse.
What we call “value” is all just a mist of desires, you can wander through but never grab them in your hands.

In the set up of Fair Warning in Selling, a group of audience members are invited to join the auction to purchase dance pieces prepared by the auctioneer. 

Through exploring the idea of consumption, evaluation, possession, and appropriation, it questions what the act of owning signifies. Especially when it’s a performance, when the value is immaterial, how do you own something so valuable yet so intangible? In the first place, how do you know something is valuable? 

In a satirical manner, it attempts to shed light on the performance market, where our passion, interest, identity, trauma, and so on are being traded as forms of value across the world.

Credits
Auctioneer/Performer: Mashiro Tamura
Mentored by Diane Madden
Theoretical suggestions by Bojana Cvejić
With external support from Beatrice Zaveckaite, Alba Díaz Muñoz, Takudzwa James Felo, Guilherme Carvalho, Rozálie Stárová, Kim Ramiandrisoa, Nicolas Dang, and all the people who helped me practice auctioning♡
Currency design: Mashiro Tamura