An exhibition about global trade and exchange value. Opens September 11 and runs until October 9.

The Salt, the Donkey, the Apple or the Great Trade took place at Atelier Amden in Switzerland in 2018 and 2019. It is part of a performance series about trade, animals, advanced industry and art. It goes something like this. First we acquire some salt mined in Switzerland. Now we load the salt on a donkey. Now we walk up the mountain with a donkey loaded with salt. Now we pick some apples. Now we visit the beekeeper where we trade some apples for honey. We arrive at the barn and dip the apples in salt and honey. Now we eat them.

The Great Trade was organised and curated by Roman Kurzmeyer.

The Salt, the Donkey, the Apple speculates on trade, ritual and longing. It addresses, rather obliquely, the position the artistic avant-garde finds itself within advanced industrialism. It reflects on the trade of goods. It positions the central component of advanced industrialism, the movement and exchange of goods, in relation to art. It wonders about our relationship to food, to animals, to the farm, and to nature. It wonders why donkeys are so sure footed. It considers why Muhammad, Jesus and other prophets favoured donkeys for their tours. It wonders why people were turned to salt in the Bible and why soldiers were paid in salt. It wonders why the Koran devotes an entire chapter to the bee and the procurement of its produce and why bee colonies have become so sick. It wonders if dipping an apple in honey can make space for reconsideration. It questions  special relationships between the artist, the curator, the farm animals, the farmer, and the collector. It wonders about the trade of goods like art, honey, apples and salt. Finally it wonders why we long.