New Artwork Documents Annual Worldwide Death Figures
1 January 2009 - 31 December 2009
London UK – DEATH COUNTER, a major new artwork by international artist Santiago Sierra will be unveiled on the façade of Hiscox insurers’ UK Headquarters in the City of London. The giant LED sign documents the annual number of human deaths worldwide, from any cause.
The compelling public artwork will serve as a fast-paced reminder of the transient nature of both human life and capital right in the heart of London’s financial district whilst also adhering to Sierra’s minimalist aesthetic. It will be loaned to international specialist insurers Hiscox for the period of one year in exchange for an insurance policy of €150,000, payable in the event of the artist’s death and valid for the duration of the exhibition. Thus, it exists not simply as an artwork in its own right, but also as a legally binding contract between Hiscox and the artist.
DEATH COUNTER by Santiago Sierra was commissioned by arts production agency ELECTRA in collaboration with Hiscox for the series of commissions Offer & Exchange: Sites of Negotiations in Contemporary Art. Fine Art insurers Hiscox have a long history of supporting the arts, and are delighted to be involved in this project, where synergies exist in the insurance of risk and Santiago's exploration of 'work' and 'worth'.
Exploring the concept of value in relation to human life and art, this collaboration accentuates elements of risk and value speculation to raise a number of questions around how value is determined; how this value corresponds to concepts of labour and commodification; how an artist’s death affects the value of his work; and how we consider the relationship between life and work in our own lives.
The death count will be based upon a demographic projection taken from the US census, currently estimated at being just over 55 million deaths per year, at a rate of nearly two per second. The value of the life insurance has been set in relation to the value of the artwork. As with his previous projects, Sierra has dramatized the relationship between ‘work’ and ‘worth’ by placing precise economical transactions in a visual context.
Robert Read, Group Fine Art Underwriter, Hiscox said: “This is a challenging and thought provoking piece which will make its mark on the city. Hiscox is in the business of valuing risk so the relationships between the contract, value of life and unusual property are familiar topics. It portrays the complexity of commerce.”
Elliot McDonald, Curator, Hiscox Art Projects said: “Death in art has forced us to question a subject we can only philosophise on – there are no guaranteed exit and entry points of information. Santiago Sierra has taken a very original view on the theme – equating the black hole of death to a series of numbers is both of-our-age and visually mesmerising at the same time. Connecting those numbers with a value of one life (his own!) he brings us a whole new dilemma involving three of life’s big themes; Money, death and self-assurance. A fabulous concept and a stunning sculpture.”
Santiago Sierra was born in Madrid in 1966. He gained extensive international recognition in 2001, when he was invited to develop new projects by several major institutions worldwide. The resulting works include Workers who cannot be paid, remunerated to remain inside cardboard boxes, Kunstwerke Berlin, Berlin; A person paid for 360 continuous working hours, P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center, Long Island City, New York; and The wall of a gallery pulled out, inclined sixty degrees from the ground and sustained by five people, Acceso A Gallery, Mexico City. In 2003, Sierra was invited to represent Spain at the 50th Venice Bienniale. Sierra has continued developing challenging new projects, including House in Mud, Kestnergesellschaft, Hanover, 2005; 245 m3, Stommeln Synagogue, Pulheim, Germany, 2006; Submission, Proyecto Juárez, Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, 2006/07; and The trap and The Adults, Centro Cultural Matucana, Santiago de Chile, Chile, 2007. Recent group exhibitions include The Living Currency, Tate Modern, London, 2008; Arte no es Vida: Actions by Artists of the Americas 1960-2000, El Museo del Barrio, New York, 2008; RAUM. Orte der Kunst, Akademie der Kunste, Berlin, 2007; and Surprise Surprise, ICA, London, 2006. His work has been included in the 51st International Venice Biennale, 2005 and 2 Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art, 2007. For more information visit www.santiago-sierra.com
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Notes to editors
Exhibition Information
Hiscox Art Café, 1 Great St Helen’s, London, EC3A 6HX
Monday – Friday 0730hrs – 1730hrs
Hiscox and Contemporary Art
Hiscox has a long and established association with contemporary art and is well-known for owning, collecting and insuring fine art. Hiscox was one of the first UK insurers to offer art insurance as a stand-alone insurance class for private collectors, museums and galleries. Driven by Chairman Robert Hiscox, the company has an impressive contemporary art collection that features over 50 artists including Damien Hirst, Richard Billingham, Marc Quinn, Mat Collishaw, Keith Coventry, Gregory Crewdson, Mark Wallinger and Cecily Brown. The collection is on permanent display in Hiscox offices around the world and is regularly updated.
Hiscox Art Projects is a contemporary exhibition space situated within the café of Hiscox’s London office which aims to make contemporary collections and exhibitions readily accessible to those living and working in the City, as well as the wider art community. In addition to this, Hiscox enjoys uncovering and encouraging emerging talent and sponsors degree shows at the École des Beaux Arts in Paris.
For more information about Hiscox art collection, please contact Elliot McDonald, Curator, Hiscox Art Projects: 020 7448 6455 / elliot.mcdonald@hiscox.com
About Hiscox
Hiscox, headquartered in Bermuda, is a specialist insurance group listed on the London Stock Exchange. There are three main underwriting parts of the Group – Hiscox Global Markets, Hiscox UK and Europe, and Hiscox International. Hiscox Global Markets underwrites mainly internationally traded business in the London Market – generally large or complex business which needs to be shared with other insurers or needs the international licences of Lloyd’s. Hiscox UK and Hiscox Europe offer a range of specialist insurance for professionals and business customers, as well as high net worth individuals. Hiscox International includes operations in Bermuda, Guernsey and USA. Hiscox Insurance Company Ltd, Hiscox Underwriting Ltd, Hiscox ASM Ltd and Hiscox Syndicates Ltd are authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority.
For further information, visit www.hiscox.com
About ELECTRA
Electra is a UK-based contemporary art agency specialising in curating, commissioning and producing ambitious cross-disciplinary projects by artists working across sound, moving image, performance and the visual arts. Projects produced and curated by ELECTRA to date include the performance programme 'Art Now Live' (2007, Tate Britain); 'The Wire 25' season of performances and events to mark The Wire Magazine's 25th anniversary (2007, London); group exhibition 'Her Noise' (2005, South London Gallery; touring 2006 - present); newly commissioned performance and film production 'Perfect Partner' by Kim Gordon, Tony Oursler and Phil Morrison's (2005, The Barbican Centre and 6 venues across the UK and Europe); Christian Marclay's performance 'Sounds Of Christmas' (2004, Tate Modern). ELECTRA is funded by Arts Council England.
For further information, visit www.electra-productions.com
The Curators
Daniel McClean is a curator and practising lawyer specialising in art law, media and intellectual property law at Withers LLP (London and New York). Lisa Rosendahl is a curator and writer. She is the Director of the Baltic Art Center in Visby, Sweden.
Offer and Exchange: Sites of Negotiation in Contemporary Art is a series of site-specific commissions inviting artists using legal contracts as artistic frameworks curated by Daniel McClean and Lisa Rosendahl. Each commission has been conceived for one of the following sites in which art is made visible by being exhibited, publicized, sold or collected: (i) the commercial gallery; (ii) the corporate collection; (iii) the art magazine; (iv) the public institution; (v) the private collection; (vi) the auction house; (viii) the art fair. DEATH COUNTER by Santiago Sierra is the second part in the series, exploring the site of the corporate art collection and has been commissioned by ELECTRA in collaboration with Hiscox, with generous support from Henry Moore Foundation and Lisson Gallery.
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