21 february 2022, Manuela Klerkx
The Gallery Box by Coppejans Gallery
“If I am unable sell twelve empty boxes, I shouldn’t have started a gallery.”
Stijn Coppejans
The second Gallery Box, designed by artist Nico Dockx, is hard to miss In Stijn Coppejans' gallery. The box consists of four printed boxes in the CMYK colours: Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black. On the bottom of the three outer boxes, the artist has manually applied the words Intuition, Curious and Ouragan with acrylic paint. The exterior is printed with pictures of the artist holding a ball in his hand. Not just any ball, but one consisting of a 'cobweb archive' of abandoned cobwebs that the artist has been collecting since the 1990s, adding samples from all over the world to the ever-growing ball. Printed on the photos are: “Through Time and Today” and “Such Places as Memory”. Stijn Coppejans: “When you put the boxes together and unfold them, they look like a flower.”
Nico Dockx, Gallery Box 21/22, 2022, 4 cardboard boxes, printed on the outside, 3 of them with hand painted intervention, including publications, artworks, articles and correspondency of the gallery and the artists, 56 x 56 x 56 cm, Edition of 12 + 3 AP. Photos: Stijn Coppejans.
- During the year, each box is filled with information and unique works of art and editions by artists who worked with the gallery in the relevant working year.
- The box consists of 15 copies of which twelve are for sale. They are purchased empty and delivered filled.
- One box is for the gallery.
- One box is for the artist.
- One box is for an archive or a museum.
- Every five years, five boxes are offered to an archive or museum where the five-year anniversary will be celebrated.
How did the idea of a Gallery Box as an archive of the gallery come about?
The archive as a philosophical theme is a common thread through our gallery program. The idea of an archive is also very important for an artist because it is what he/she ultimately builds up during his/her life. For example, we work with archives on the occasion of the centenary of Joseph Beuys. Or by showing work by an artist like Denmark who has been building up an oeuvre of manipulated archive material since 1972.
Can you describe the Gallery Box?
The intention is that every year an artist designs a box that is executed in 15 copies and contains all the documentation from one working year of the gallery. All newspaper articles, books, publications, flyers, letters, etc. of the relevant year are included. In addition, every artist I work with that year puts a work of art in each box. During the year the box becomes more and more full and at the end of the year it contains the entire 'archive' of the gallery.
“Each box is actually a story box, or rather, a fact box with information about one year of the Coppejans Gallery.”Stijn Coppejans
What is the purpose of the Gallery Box?
For me, the box is a means of connecting people to the gallery and to the artists. The interaction that this project generates is fantastic. It creates a bond between the gallery, the artist and, say, 'the fans from the very beginning'.
That sounds very nice, but I assume that there is also some financial reasoning behind it?
It takes a lot of pressure off the kettle for me, as a gallerist, economically. Without the buyers knowing what the ultimate monetary value of the box will be, they contribute, just like the artists who provide work for it, to the possibility for a gallery to invest in fairs, publications, etc. For example, I finance the gallery based on involvement and not on the basis of speculation. And that feels right to me. In addition, the 'archive' as a theme for the gallery is very important and the box thus symbolizes the core of the gallery's operation. I also like to joke: If I am unable sell twelve empty boxes, I shouldn’t have started a gallery.”
How many boxes are made every year?
Each year, an artist designs one box that is produced in fifteen copies. Twelve of these are for sale. One box is for the artist, one for the gallery plus I reserve one for a museum. After five years I have five boxes and I donate them in their entirety to a museum of my choice. That museum will therefore receive the archive of the gallery's five years of work. The only condition is that we can celebrate that five-year anniversary in the relevant museum. (laughs).
How can I get a hold of a box?
You can buy such a box when it is still empty. So at the moment neither I nor the buyers know what will be in it. The first Gallery Box 20/21 was designed by Stijn D'hondt. And at the beginning of this year we launched Gallery Box 21/22 by Nico Dockx and there are still a few copies for sale.
What does a Gallery Box cost?
Only €3,600.
