a
-
n
the
artists
information
company
v
41
signpost
Biennial had not had any kind of
activity like this for the thousands of
extra artists, curators, journalists and
collectors who descend on the city
during that weekend. CAVE provided
this for Liverpool Biennial 2012.
With no funding, a little sponsorship,
a hefty feasibility study, and a lot
of goodwill CAVE manifested as a
showcase of 45 of the most exciting
artists working in the UK today
without representation from a UK
gallery. Consultation with over 50
artist-led organisations helped
shortlist the artists and it was
decided that any sales made would be
commission-free. Flis and I did CAVE
with no financial gain whatsoever.
It wasn’t about making money
ourselves, but proving money could
be made in this city from the sale of
art (which we were told repeatedly
wasn’t ever going to happen!) If
a market can be built or even just
stimulated, which we hope CAVE did,
then the ball has been rolled for the
good of all of us, as artists operating
in this city. It’s that same Royal
Standard ethos that definitely came
into play when setting up CAVE.
Would you do it again?
I don’t know if CAVE will happen
again, maybe it was part of a
particular moment in time that felt
right. It’s not up to us as two artists
to create or maintain a market for the
sale of art in this region, it just needed
us to provoke the idea, to shake things
up. I’d hope that if something like
CAVE happened again, somebody else
would take the initiative to do it – if
they had the balls!
you didn’t go down the route of
doing an MA after graduating, why
was that?
I didn’t do an MA straight after
graduating because I didn’t get on
one! I applied for and contemplated
a few, and have since. Several years
later I had interviews in mainland
Europe. But in retrospect, all these
things would have been wrong – I was
too young. I think an MA is something
you should do when you hit a wall,
when you need that fresh impetus of
thinking to break you out of your day-
to-day monotony of making (or indeed
not making). The Royal Standard has
constantly provided me with that
fresh impetus ever since I moved
back to Liverpool and I suppose
that is what has kept me here. I am
tentatively considering applying for
an MA next year, maybe, who knows,
it depends on what happens next
at The Royal Standard. I could find
myself accidently here for another
eight years without really realising it!
Kevin Hunt, 2012.