Inert

Inert is a gallery that represents art practices, but no artists in particular.

Inert, a new production model and exhibition space in SoHo, shows no individual artists. Instead, they exhibit a portfolio of art practices as a new approach to framing authorship.

To kick things off, Inert has created Enzo, Anouk Hood, and Opis, three art practices produced by no artist in particular. Each name represents an ethos and guiding principles for the work produced under it. Through these entities, Inert and an ever-growing network of artists and collaborators are building rich oeuvres that aim to be as ubiquitous as brands. By grouping together people for each practice, Inert breaks with the traditional dictatorial idea of the artist supported by a team of assistants in favor of work that stands on its own.

Although the founders of Inert direct each practice, the made-up identities help collapse the barriers between creation, collaboration, curation, and commissioning and thus privilege work that is on-practice regardless of its author or context. Enzo’s body of work includes a submission from a random stranger, while Anouk Hood created a mini fashion collection for one show.

This raises new questions about identity, authorship, legacy, copyright, and the contemporary constitution of an artist. The lineage for this concept can be traced from Andy Warhol to Bernadette Corporation to No Ghost Just a Shell (Pierre Huyghe and Philippe Parreno) to DIS.

Similar to all is their fundamental rethinking of art. The Factory shut down upon Andy Warhlol’s death, but Inert asks the logical next question. Can a practice continue indefinitely if handled correctly? This question is supported by a host of initiatives like incorporating each practice, equity for collaborators, and funding of new practices.