Taxing Art. Creativity in the Internet era

Eyal Burstein and Michele Gauler believe their different and unconventional backgrounds bring a multifaceted and – why not? – more conceptual approach to design. Michele has a background in psychology and human-computer interaction plus team-user experience with IBM. She moved to London, where she studied design interaction at the Royal College of Art and met Eyal (with a background of graphic design studies). Beta Tank was formed in 2007 and in 2008 Michele joined Beta Tank, based in London and later the two moved to Berlin, and focus on social and technological aspects. Since then, they have tried to design objects and services that are simple to make and easy to use. “While Beta Tank's objects may seem fantastic or magical they are always based on available technologies and address timeless human behaviours and need...”, they explain.

This year, Ambra Medda chose them as “Designers of the Future”, taking them with her to the Milan Furniture Fair and Art Basel. They may have amazed us with an optical installation in Milan but they appeared in Basel with a far more experimental reflection on the state of contemporary design, or rather the (physical) circulation of ideas and creativity in the Internet era. What happens when a work of art (or design) arrives at a border? Even more crucially, should it be stopped at customs and taxed like commodities?

For their latest project, Taxing Art, presented for Design Miami in Basel, Eyal and Michele built three objects, intentionally borderline between art and design, with a deliberate wish to engage customs officers on the border between Germany and Switzerland: a translucent box/coffee table filled with hammers (Box of Loose Hammers), a sculpture/chair (Chanimals) with an almost anthropomorphous shape and a table/sculpture (T228/89) that, when swiped with the hand, reveals 119 revolving pyramids.

The experiment was a success and Beta Tank declare themselves satisfied: “We did not get stopped at the border but on the second day of the exhibition customs came around looking for our clearance papers. It was hard to engage them in a deep conversation as they wanted to move on but eventually one of the customs officers declared all the objects are art!” The reason? Because they were destined for a fair that was called Art Basel. The force of words you could say. “Whilst their visit was a surprise we still managed to take pictures and received a clearance stamp from the authorities. There is a Swiss rule which states that if the artist travels with his own art it is exempt from duty...”. Another three exhibitions are planned for the coming months (Barcelona, Istanbul and New York) for as many reflections on the theme. “The intention is to collect papers, attitudes and stamps and comments as they travel”. The project should end with a book summarising the various experiences. Elena Sommariva