Capital

The publication builds a context from which the giving [issue] of the Capital: Gift can be located. The book contains photographs taken during our research of the Bank and Tate, commissioned essays, complemented by previously unpublished archival material and a ‘sketch’ history of both institutions.

Contents

Directors Foreword

On the eve of Tate Modern’s first anniversary it is, more than ever before, important to remember that the building by no means equals the museum. Whilst we build galleries for modern and contemporary art because the majority of art work is (or has been) made with the gallery space, or ‘white cube”, as the ideal viewing place, at the same time artistic practice of the last forty years has in many ways undermined the hegemony of the gallery building.

During the recent past many artists have moved from the production of objects and images to exploring what perhaps can be called a zone or a field, within which a variety of activities (including drawing, painting and sculpture) produce and reveal meanings, power systems and values. This process does not mean that the museum now has a less important role, only that its role has shifted and expanded into that of being a central operator or, perhaps hub in a complex cultural field.

I can think of no other artists that have ventured into investigating the nature and role of the museum and the category of activities in society we call art with such a mix of curiosity, clarity and radicality as Neil Cummings and Marysia Lewandowska. I am therefore delighted that they agreed to inaugurate the Contemporary Interventions programme at Tate Modern – a programme of annual commissions through which we enable artists and others to investigate and comment on the core practice of the museum. With their project Capital, the artists have cut through and laid bare layer upon layer of micro- and macro-systems of structure meaning and value in the museum, and the broader context in which it operates; from its secret and private spaces, via its location on Bankside, to its place in society’s system of value, production and exchange.

Capital, as an artwork, is triggered by an act of giving, this book and by a series of discussions curated by the artists. It has been in planning for several years and has been an intensely collaborative project. I would like to thank Neil and Marysia for their tenacious ambition, inspired thinking and meticulous attention to detail in realising such a complex venture. I would also like to add my personal thanks to the many individuals, listed in Neil and Marysia’s own acknowledgements, at Tate Modern and the Bank of England who have supported the genesis and relisation of Capital, to the distinguished writers who have contributed to the book, the speakers participating in the seminar series, and to the design team at August.

Capital is a key part of Tate Modern: collection 2001 which is generously supported by BT

Lars Nitve Director of Tate Modern

Introduction
Frances Morris, Senior curator Tate Modern
Situates Capital in relation to other work by Neil and Marysia, and suggest why the issues raised by the project hold significance for art and its practices.

History of the Bank
John Keyworth, curator Bank of England Museum
Written as a guide to the Bank, it chronologically maps it's history from the middle of 17th century to the present day.

Elsewhere
Prof Nigel Thrift, Department of Geographical Science at University of Bristol
Nigel Thrift proposes that culture is becoming increasingly insubstantial in its manifestations. He suggests that the Bank and Tate act as underwriters, guaranteeing the increasingly abstract representation of values that circulate through and between them.

The Aesthetics of Substance
Prof Marilyn Strathern, Department of Social Anthropology, Cambridge University

The essay focusses on the exchange practices of two communities in the highlands of Papua New Guinea, and how those practices are reflected in the desired body type of the inhabitants. Fat body type implies stored wealth, thin body type suggests distributed wealth, and the essay opens and closes with a horrific image - a body born into the wrong community. Encapsulated are the three conditions of any enonomy; stored, distributed and squandered resources.

I Owe You Nothing
Prof Jeremy Valentine, Department of Sociology, St Andrews University, Edinburgh

With references range from Aristotle to Derrida and Adam Smith to Susan Stewart; the essay reveals how receiving a gift triggers the obligation to reciprocate, the countergift necessitates a return and so on, endlessly. The twin themes of the gift and debt are located as the heart of the respective institutions, and reveals the gesture of the gift as the core of the Capital itself.

A Short History of the Tate
Francis Spalding

This text outlines a brief history of the Tate, from its opening in 1897 to the present day.

Supporting material (extracts from)

Charles Dickens Great Expectations, Dombey and Son and David Copperfield Robert B.Sherman lyrics for Mary Poppins, and short quotations from:
Susan Stewart, John Locke, Adam Smith, Aristotle, David Hume, Emile Benveniste, Karl Marx, Herodotus, Marcel Mauss and Angela Carter

To buy the book from artwords, or tate online

A text, An Economy of Love reflects on and gives some historical and cultural context for Capital. It was first printed in Economising Culture: On The (Digital) Culture Industry in 2004.