Jakyung Lee
Valuing Francis Bacon
Enacted with an absurdity that defies the effect of what the title suggests, the captured behavior hardly changes any social meaning of existing properties. Connections sought after are between monetary hegemony, commodification in markets and beyond, and how individual semantics could have little or no power over the social stratum, where the market values are determined.
How are things valued today? Theoretically, prices shall change according to how the public values things. In the free market, prices go up when people demand more, going down otherwise. In reality, no market depends on such a democratic theorem. Other rules exist.
For example, the world uses US Dollar as the reserve currency, whose amount the US Federal Reserve controls. The value of money itself changes, according to decisions made by a very selective group of people.
Neoliberalists spread myths about the free market, but all markets are regulated. How does an individual obtain agency in midst of this? Through ‘The Revaluation Project’, the artist intrudes into different markets, reevaluating existing values.