GastARTbeiter, 2000

Luchezar Boyadjiev is an internationally known artist and an active representative of the contemporary Eastern European art scene in the so-called Western world. In his artworks he reflects on the radical change of way of life and economic system that began with the dissolution of socialist societies.

In his wall piece GastARTbeiter, Boyadjiev traces his artistic career during the 1990s. Unlike the usual artist’s biography, this one is presented not in terms of prizes, grants, exhibitions, and solo projects at certain institutions, but rather through the financial resources he has received. In addition to hotel bills, restaurant receipts, contracts, exhibition budgets, and other documents, the work contains photos, reminiscences, and commentaries by Boyadjiev, and so becomes a kind of personal chronicle. Since his participation in a guest artist program in Stuttgart, and because of his grievance against the institutional art market system, he began calculating how much money Western foundations and funding programs were prepared to invest in his career over a ten-year period.

In his work Boyadjiev examines the relation of art, economy, and everyday life, and at the same time takes an equally ironic and critical stance towards the social and political contexts of art. Beyond this, he questions the capitalist operating system of art itself. (AE)