Artists of the World Unite

“Artists of the world unite” is Inbal Hoffman & Saron Paz’s call for establishing an artists' coalition to confront art institutions, including the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, in a nod to Karl Marx's slogan for establishing a workers' union to confront the capitalist regime. Their miniature model, which continues Hoffman's ongoing preoccupation with scale, emphasizes the connection between labor and value: every tiny detail bears witness to the work invested in it, embodying Marx's theory of the value of labor power. The duo stands at the entrance in the form of tiny worker dolls that humorously and critically illustrate their identity as cultural workers. The creative version of the new museum building invites the viewer to insert a coin and activate a tiny conveyor belt that carries one’s personal cellphone into the “museum dollhouse.” Revealed inside the miniature space is the exhibition curator’s office – a miniscule, accurate model in the Delft style that reflects a concealed museum mechanism. The issue of museum budgeting – or lack thereof – is at the heart of this work. By asking the audience to help fund the work, the artists shed light on this issue through a critical project concerning the gap between an artwork’s economic and symbolic value and the artist's creative freedom.