Raising money at the moment is about as easy as raising the Titanic – and a lot less interesting – but if you’re a young artist and you want to take up a shared residency at SOMA in Mexico City, art-for-cash is the way to go. In what turned out to be a very generous gesture, artists Fiona Connor, Louise Menzies, Sanné Mestrom and Kate Newby offered one of an edition they’d each make in exchange for a contribution to their trip. On their return the four made up the editions and the lucky funders each got a print based on a Mexican map from Menzies, a bronze bottle opener from Mestrom and a hand-painted ceramic cup from Newby.
And then there was Fiona Connor. Throwing a small sack of cement into a bag along with a wooden frame, some trowels and a large stamp, Connor fronted up to each funder and offered to install a concrete print in a location to be agreed. These slabs are now in the corners of backyards, on the floors of studios and a Wellington street. It was pouring with rain when she mixed the cement and laid ours down but it didn’t seem to worry Conner at all.
She finished the work at 3.30, caught a plane to Auckland at 4 and was on a flight back to LA by 9.
