Trilogia postfordista III. La balada del valor d'ús, (2009-) 2011
With this work, Octavi Comeron completes a trilogy of projects that reflect on the collisions of the current symbolic and productive order by analysing the different aspects of automobile production. While in the other two installations of his Post-Fordist Trilogy he took automobile production plants as the object of study, in this case he uses the car-as-object to draw parallels between artistic production and notions such as labour, surplus value, value in use and value in exchange.
La balada del valor d’ús (The Song of the Value in Use) was shown at NauEstruch, Sabadell, in 2011. Comeron put a production car up for sale under the category and tax regulations of a work of art. Whereas the sale of a car attracted 21% VAT, as a work of art, VAT was only 8% at that time. Thus, the nature of artistic practice is held to question by putting into play its legal framework, since, when an object such as a car is treated as an artwork, it experiences a price devaluation of more than 10%. Although the car was sold, the tax authorities challenged the transaction, demanding that the artist pay the difference. An action that confronts aesthetic reflection and the Marxist theory of value with the performativity of the legal system and its definition of art.
Technical details
- Original title:
- Trilogia postfordista III. La balada del valor d'ús
- Registration number:
- 5122
- Artist:
- Comeron, Octavi
- Date created:
- (2009-) 2011
- Date acquired:
- 2014
- Fonds:
- MACBA Collection. MACBA Consortium
- Object type:
- Installation
- Media:
- Various materials
- Dimensions:
- Various dimensions
- Credits:
- MACBA Collection. MACBA Consortium. Gift of Octavi Comeron's Inheritors
- Copyright:
- © Octavi Comeron
- It has accessibility resources:
- No
The MACBA Collection features Catalan, Spanish and international art and, although it includes works from the 1920s onwards, its primary focus is on the period between the 1960s and the present.
For more information on the work or the artist, please consult MACBA's Library. To request a loan of the work, please write to colleccio [at] macba.cat.
If you need a high resolution image of the work, you must submit an image loan request.