Picking up from where it previously took place (Gallery Tulips & Roses, Vil- nius in 2008), THE STORE takes as its starting point its intended location – Artissima, Turin – and its occasion – a contemporary art fair – to form a celebration of the art object while aspiring to provide critical reflection on the manner by which it operates in the eyes of the art market. Both creatively and ironically, THE STORE sets out to address, challenge, and offer light relief to the current day forces placing pressure on worldwide economies and in turn the art market and its status.

All of the artists included in THE STORE have been invited to participate with works that will available to the general public. The result is an inventory comprising artwork by over 30 international artists, as well as projects curated by other people, all of which can either be purchased at relatively small prices or be taken away for free. Vitally, all of the pieces included are premised on, or contain characteristics of, the liberal and open-ended conditions by which they are available.

THE STORE, therefore, makes available artworks by art- ists whose work is usually conserved in private galleries or art fairs for a selec- tive few, and in doing so provides a new experience not only within commer- cial art fairs but also for exhibition visiting entirely. Interestingly, by making purchases from the goods on offer – selecting a pair of keys, a poster and not say a slice of a cake and/or a napkin, for example –viewers will in effect be curating their own shows which they can away with them. This shifts the role of the spectator into consumer and active participant, and in response to their activity, THE STORE will be subjected to perpetual change, order and reorder – altering both its form and meaning. THE STORE is housed in a purpose built construction that takes and plays on aspects synonymous with a store and its associated design elements do so as well.