Royal Pleasures (Fürstliches Vergnügen)

Royal Pleasures is a performance project by WHITE MARKET, a performance label founded in 2009 by artists Claudia Kappenberg (London UK) and Dorothea Seror (Munich, Germany). Royal Pleasures was commissioned by curator Ute Ritchel for KunstTreffpunkt, an annual urban intervention in the city of Darmstadt, Germany. White Market chose to work in one of the former royal parks in the city centre, the Prinz-Georg Garten. To address the question of the relation between pleasure, value and money the White Market artists set up a temporary base in the park and offered to spend time with the passers-by in a direct exchange for payment by the visitors.The latter could choose from different activities and a set amount of time and request the company of one or both artists. The price for the experience depended on the duration as well as on the level of intimacy offered. By asking for a - largely symbolic - payment for the time and attention given White Market brought the issue of money into the art experience. This strategy invited the passer-by to agree a value and to invest personally into the encounter. It also handed the visitor a certain amount of control as to the amount of investment and the extend of the engagement.