05.10.2020, artconnect, Author: Julianne Cordray - The opening of Studio Berlin at Berghain was a main feature of this year’s Berlin Art Week. But the large-scale exhibition, which showcases contemporary art from Berlin and has made it possible for the famous club to open its doors again, has also been met with criticism over the fees paid to participating artists. ... In a Tweet from September 9, the bbk berlin (professional association of visual artists) mentions this and also questions the use of such a substantial amount of public funds to produce an exhibition without running an open call or including a jury process. Speaking about the fees, Zoë Claire Miller, the spokesperson of bbk berlin, elaborates: “It is extremely problematic to pay artists such low fees in an exhibition with so much funding and of such large scale. This continues the myth that it is morally acceptable if everyone in the art world except the artist can live off of their work.” In 2016, bbk berlin, together with the city’s communal galleries negotiated minimum wage standards for artists presenting artistic works or performances in publicly funded projects. A special fund, anchored in the state budget, was created exclusively for Berlin’s municipal galleries, which Miller describes as “chronically underfunded”. The fund ensures payment of artist fees without cutting into the overall production of the exhibition. This “Berlin Model” includes a payment scale that corresponds with the number of artists participating in a project — as all artist fees are taken from a single fund. This means, for an exhibition featuring one to two artists, the minimum payment is €1,500 per artist, and the more artists participating the lower the fee becomes. For larger projects featuring more than 30 artists, a minimum of €100 is to be paid to each artist. The wage paid to Studio Berlin artists is considered to have met the minimum standards as set forth in this payment scale. But, these standards are specifically oriented towards municipal galleries, which are smaller in size, have a much lower budget for individual exhibitions, and are not allowed to charge entry fees. The question being raised is, should the minimum requirement for artist fees, as set for municipal galleries with far lower budgets, remain the same for an exhibition of this scale and with this kind of financial backing? ...…