LILY VAN DER STOKKER, Poor museum has no money, 2018
14 x 14 cm
sticker, comes with Cut magazine issue #19
edition 80
published by CUT magazine about art / Galerie van Gelder, Amsterdam
inv.LvdS 000

In 2018, Lily van der Stokker was invited to create a solo exhibition at the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam. In such a case it is not unusual to agree that the museum will purchase a work, as an expression of gratitude or support towards the artist. It soon turned out that there was no budget to purchase a work of art by this Dutch artist.

Lily was allowed to come up with proposals for the teaser campaign. She suggested making a sticker with the text ‘Poor museum has no money’. That plan was rejected because there could be a public fuss about money spent by the museum. Van der Stokker then suggested having wrapping paper printed with the text ‘Blockbuster or avantgarde?’. That was also seen as overly critical commentary on the museum.

This sticker comes together with a piece of wrapping paper called “Blockbuster or Avant garde?” as an insert in Cut magazine about art issue #19 – November 2018. Published by Galerie van Gelder, Amsterdam, Netherlands. These items accompany an open letter to Dutch journalist Lucette Terborg by Lily that starts as follows: ‘I’m writing to you in response to your review that was published on 13/14 November in the NRC about my retrospective exhibition at the Stedelijk Museum. It was the second time I’d done something like it (the first being in ‘97)….’