Non-commercial
It’s in the bylaws:
stimulating and promoting non-commercially oriented art – organising non-commercial
art manifestations.
Of course there is
a conundrum. Every work of art is merchandise as soon as there is a buyer, even if
they buy air. Introduce an artist with nihil nil market value. Immediately he or she is picked up by the
audience. The works are bought by people who have specialised in buying works. The
international art market is interested in it. Hordes of hoarding devotees
trample the non-commercial point of departure.
At the onset
(1990/1991) any commercial activity was strictly prohibited. Two of the exhibitors don’t stick to the
rules, crox 6 and crox 12. All other artists follow the policy: no selling allowed
and so no selling allowed.
Later (May 1991-end
1992) the problem vanishes. The street projects (Copy Art, En Passant, Signos,
KNUTS) have not the least commercial value or potential.
The non-commercial
point of departure of croxhapox becomes an item of debate only as from 1994.
Initially the team (Guido, Kristel, van) dig in their heels: nothing is to be
sold/ potential buyers preferably contact the artist directly. When a commercial
transaction takes place croxhapox doesn’t (want to) know about it and it
happens preferably outside the crox premises. In the case of a sale (which
happens a bit more often as from 1996) the association takes 0%.
Only in 1998 Croxhapox
vzw uses the 20%-arrangement, a policy that has been followed ever since. The
association takes a 20% commission on sales during the exhibition. The rule
applies only to exhibited works and expires when the show is over.