Dan Ronson writes about the first exhibition(s) by Sam Cамиздат.

These exhibitions called Marketing is Our Greatest Art Form appeared at the old tram shelter in Ditchling Road, Brighton during March, April and May 2019.

Sam built most of the pieces for this exhibition whilst attending workshops at the ATU. Each exhibit featured a selection from images printed on cards produced by University of Brighton MA Inclusive Arts Practice students (for their Final Year Show at Grand Parade in July 2018). According to Sam, one of the MA graduates had given him an envelope containing those cards whilst explaining, “This is an inclusive celebration of your response to our research.”

The other features of each exhibit have been Sam's reconfiguration of Maxfield Parrish’s Morning Light (1954), which Sam describes as an evocation of some hoped for better view through what’s left of the old tram shelter’s windows.

Each piece for the exhibition was photographed first at the ATU and then again, in situ, at the shelter. Predictably, each of Sam’s exhibits remained in situ for only a few days before they were either removed (by an art collector or by some city council street cleaning patrol) or vandalised (by an excluded school child or by some passing drug dealer). One exhibit lasted in situ for less than a day. One exhibit remained in situ for almost a week. For a while, Sam would immediately replace a removed or vandalised exhibit with a new piece, until all his pieces had been used.

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