A major group exhibition of ninety nine artists based in the United States, 99 Cents or Less addresses Detroit’s ongoing economic crisis and its 2013 bankruptcy–the largest municipal bankruptcy filing in the history of the United States. Four years after a federal judge approved Detroit’s bankruptcy-exit plan the city’s financial present and future are still in flux. This exhibition is a reflection on the realities of a city that was once one of the country’s wealthiest and most diverse. Speaking to Detroit’s place as a global industrial powerhouse by using materials from 99 cent stores, 99 Cents or Less hopes to make the connection between past, present, and future centers of production, and point to ways that artists can address how mass production has changed and will continue to change and evolve. As the consumer’s relationship with their everyday items has changed, so has the application and approach that artists take when incorporating these items in their work.
An expansive and diverse group of artists invited by Jens Hoffmann, Susanne Feld Hilberry Senior Curator at Large will be producing new works for display in the museum referencing Marcel Duchamp’s readymades, industrially produced consumer items that are manipulated via an intervention by the artist and Arte Povera’s use of often cheap and mundane materials to critique convention and the market .
99 Cents or Less features the following artists:
Kelly Sumiko Akashi, Kathryn Andrews, Uri Aran, Julieta Aranda, Edgar Arceneaux, Corrie Baldauf, John Baldessari, Heidi Barlow, Michael Bell-Smith, Brian Belott, Frank Benson, Jennifer Bornstein, Andrea Bowers, Chris Bradley, Jon Brumit, Dora Budor, Nicholas Buffon, A.K. Burns, Jedediah Caesar, Juan Capistrán, James Collins, Matt Connors, Bjorn Copeland, Sarah Crowner, Sara Cwynar, N. Dash, Nathaniel de Large, Michael DeLucia, Jim Drain, Josh Faught, Harrell Fletcher, Liam Gillick, Samara Golden, Piero Golia, Michelle Grabner, Nicolas Guágnini, Henry Gunderson, Mark Handforth, Lena Henke, Marie T. Hermann, Lynn Hershman Leeson, Ben Hall, Channing Hansen, Scott Hocking, Jonathan Horowitz, Alex Israel, Alfredo Jaar, Colter Jacobsen, Elizabeth Jaeger, Meredith James, Matt Johnson, Rashid Johnson, Jamian Juliano-Villani, Sarah Kabot, Shaina Kasztelan, Osman Khan, Thomas Kovachevich, Andrew Kuo, Agnieszka Kurant, Jason Lazarus, Pamela Lins, Matt Lipps, Mateo López, Bonnie Lucas, Shana Lutker, Medrie Macphee, Jill Magid, Anthony Marcellini, Daniel Joseph Martinez, Josiah McElheny, Adam McEwen, Heather McGill, Jason Meadows, Josephine Meckseper, Sarah Meyohas, Jason Middlebrook, Carter Mull, Matt Mullican, Ruben Ochoa, Arthur Ou, Virginia Overton, Hamilton Poe, Walter Price, Rob Pruitt, Puppies Puppies, Jonathan Rajewski, Chadwick Rantanen, Sean Raspet, Hans Dieter Rieder, John Riepenhoff, Will Rogan, Matthew Ronay, Aura Rosenberg, Amanda Ross-Ho, Sterling Ruby, Michael Scoggins, Robert Sestok, Arlene Shechet, Amy Sillman, Casey Silverstein, Laurie Simmons, Michael E. Smith, Philip Smith, Agathe Snow, Valeska Soares, Haim Steinbach, Jessica Stockholder, Ricky Swallow, Cheyney Thompson, Clarissa Tossin, J Parker Valentine, Michael Wang, Garth Weiser, Eric Wesley, Jeff Williams, Viola Yeşiltaç, and Mario Ybarra Jr.
The exhibition will be accompanied by a Karma publication and a series of public programs which will explore subjects like consumerism, trade, labor, new materialism, acceleration, poverty and prosperity as well as art as commodity.
99 Cents or Less is curated by Jens Hoffmann, Susanne Feld Hilberry Senior Curator at Large and organized by the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit. Curatorial support is provided by Scott Campbell, Ford Foundation Curatorial Fellow at MOCAD. Exhibition Management is provided by Zeb Smith, Exhibitions Manager. Design provided by Jon Sueda of Stripe SF.
