16.00 h

Artist Talk Tom Sachs & Jeffrey Deitch

Julius Bär Art Lounge, PostHaus St.Moritz

THE AVANT/GARDE DIARIES MEETS ST. MORITZ ART MASTERS

Panel discussion: Artists and Brands – A match made in heaven?

Tom Sachs (artist), Jeffrey Deitch (director MOCA) and Lüder Fromm (Head of Global Marketing Communications Mercedes-Benz Passenger Cars) will take about the relationship between art and brands. Reiner Opoku (curator St. Moritz Art Masters) moderates the discussion.

Many brands have the idea to cooperate with an artist or a designer whether to change the design of their product or to realize a project. The consumers buy a name and gain a product with signature. A central question of the discussion is how can both parties benefit from the cooperation? What makes sense and is suitable for both of them? What can a brand do for art or what can art do for a brand? What for surplus values are arising? How can supporting art go beyond sponsoring? What kind of publicity results for art and brands?

The American artist Tom Sachs appropriates brand logos and uses them in his artworks. In the nineties he created a series of alienated bags and packing material of a fast food chain with the branding of famous fashion houses, among them Hermès, Prada and Chanel. Through this manipulation the artist plays with the perception of luxury goods and mass-produced articles in our society. A throwaway item is upgraded by luxury label and loses its ephemeral moment. Who would like to throw away such an object, if even shopping bags from luxury brands achieve bids on the Internet? Furthermore Sachs created limited products for Nike and Montblanc. Through this cooperation affordable collecting pieces for beginners come into existence. The question will be discussed, if his artwork is democratised by this collaborations and if new target groups are addressed? During St. Moritz Art Masters there will be Tom Sachs‘ “Miffy Fountain” displayed in front of the Badrutt’s Palace Hotel in St. Moritz. The rabbit from the Dutch picture book is an international brand and as famous as the Japanese cat „Hello Kitty“. Both play an important role in Sachs’ artwork.

Jeffrey Deitch, is director of the Museum of Contemporary Art (MoCA) in Los Angeles and not a classical art historian, but a gallery owner. Before he became a gallery owner he graduated in business in Harvard and was vice president of the Citibank. Deitch collected experiences as manager and knows both sides of the art world. The New Yorker discovered and supported controversial artist such as Vanessa Beecroft, Terry Richardson and Dash Snow. He became famous for his unconventional exhibitions. The MoCA belongs to the most important museums for contemporary art in the United States.

Lüder Fromm was born in Stuttgart in 1968. He studied Business
Administration in Bamberg and Marketing in Munich. After graduating
he began his career as Marketing Manager with ARNO GmbH.
Subsequently, in 1997, Lüder changed to the public relations and
brand agency Häberlein & Mauerer AG as Key Account Manager. From
2000 he was in charge of the brand adidas and the automotive brand
smart. Lastly he led the Berlin office as Managing Director.
Since starting at the former smart GmbH in 2003, Fromm has been
Senior Manager for brand management of the innovative automobile
brand. In addition to his responsibility for brand management, in 2006
he took over the global marketing communication of smart. In this role
he was also in charge of the successful positioning of the smart for two
in the US and China. From September 1st, 2009, Lüder Fromm will be Head of Global Marketing Communications Mercedes-Benz Passenger Cars.

Reiner Opoku is founding member and curator of St. Moritz Art Masters, which celebrates its fifth anniversary in 2012. Opoku consults brands in questions of art and acts as connection between artists and brands. He is also co-founder of the curated collaboration platform „Cookies for all“. In the nineties he build up for the art publishing house Taschen Verlag the distribution in Asia and Australia. He was partner of a gallery in Miami. In the eighties he worked as art agent for Dokoupil and got in touch with many artist among others Martin Kippenberger, Albert Oehlen, George Condo and Julian Schnabel. Reiner Opoku had a close friendship with Jean-Michel Basquiat.

Mercedes-Benz has established with Avant/Garde Diaries a creative platform to present topics of the time and society. They give the avant-garde views of designers and artistis in the fields of fashion, design, architecture, music and mobilitiy the opportunity to be realized. The heart of Avant/Garde Diaries is a digital interview magazine, which is produced in New York. Each week the website presents interesting stories about designers, art-directors and pop icons.

The event series of the same name The Avant/Garde Diaries transfers the contents into real space. Each event is focused on another modern lifestyle. The exhibition of Tom Sachs and the discussion about interfaces between art and brands are part of this exciting and extraordinary project and offer a platform for creativity and consumption.