eBayADay was the first group exhibition using eBay as venue. Aaron Ahuvia, Zack Denfeld, and I curated this month-long art exhibition using eBay.com as venue. We invited artists to submit “auctions” as artworks, using the entire eBay listing — item for sale, sale category, title, descriptive text, accompanying images, and pricing — as components of the work.
Unlike the more than two million pieces of traditional art for sale on eBay, the pieces in the eBayADay exhibition utilized eBay’s methods and systems as elements in the work. Works exploited, redefined or underscored eBay’s potential in the exchange of ideas, objects, and commerce. Every person who viewed an eBayADay listing, whether they bid or not, experienced the work.
Most browsers discovered the artworks while searching for other items on eBay. A father browsing through musical instruments won artist Abishek Hazra’s auction “Own my voice and use it for Anything” as a gift for his daughter. The eBayADay show made visible a large and thriving group of artists working in the Fluxus spirit, and the online nature of the exhibition reached a large non-art audience, and gave life to an exciting community of artists.
The first auction began on December 1, 2006 and the last ended on December 31, 2006. The original eBayADay website was shut down by eBay, but the works are archived on: https://exstrange.com/relatives/ebayaday/
ARTISTS
Conrad Bakker • Matthew Bryant • Carl Diehl • Karen Eliot • Charles Fairbanks • Marc Ganzglass • Josh Greene • Ellen Harvey • Abhishek Hazra • Christine Hill • Nancy Hwang • Institute for Infinitely Small Things • Robin Kahn • Osman Khan • Sheryl Oring • Stefano Pasquini • William Pope L. • Dan Price • REBAR • John Roos • Davy Rothbart • Yashas Shetty • Slop Mountain College • Nick Tobier • Annie Varnot
PRESS
Ahuvia A. and Izberk-Gilgin, E. (2011) ‘Limits of the McDonaldization thesis: eBayization and ascendant trends in post-industrial consumer culture’, in Jonathan Schroeder, editor, Brands: Interdisciplinary Perspectives (Vol. Routledge interpretive marketing research). (London: Routledge).
Ana Finel Honigman, “Do we need art galleries any more?,” The Guardian, December 18, 2006.
Tamar Charney, “eBayADay interview,” Michigan Radio, NPR, 2006.
