Kunstkonsum—Konsumkunst

The documentary filmmaker Gerry Schum produced this film on multiples for WDR (West German Broadcasting Corporation) in 1968. It was aired on German television in October of that year, timed to coincide with the second installment of a contemporary art fair, Art Cologne, which was the first fair of its kind. The film opens with a long scrolling shot of various marketing materials for multiples by an array of publishers, highlighting the explosion of interest in the format by the mid-1960s. A simultaneous voice-over recites a long list of artist names, the price of their multiples, and the publisher who distributed them. Throughout the film shots of multiples being assembled, displayed, and manipulated are interspersed with interview footage of artists, gallerists, and manufacturers, who express their opinions about the anti-elitist aspirations of the multiple, the relationship between art and industry, and the critique of authorship and originality inherent in the medium. Prominently featured in the film are Edition MAT collaborators Daniel Spoerri, Karl Gerstner, and Hein Stünke, as well as Multiples Inc., the New York–based gallery and US distributor of Edition MAT. Kunstkonsum—Konsumkunst is a precursor to Schum’s Fernsehgalerie (Television gallery), a program intended to exhibit art to a broad audience through the medium of television.

Installation view of Kunstkonsum—Konsumkunst (Art consumption—consumption art), 1968. Dir. Gerry Schum. Black-and-white film with sound, transferred to DVD, 29:30 min. WDR mediagroup, Cologne. Photo by Joshua White / JWPictures.com