A performance during the auction at Christie's on May 20th 2009, in which the auctioneer auctions off items of his own clothing and equipment. The performance is documented in a series of photographs - taken by an official Christie's photographer - that becomes the original artwork. Each photo shows a different stage of getting the auctioneer undressed. The series of photographs grows, depending on the auctioneer and the auction audience.
Each unique work consists of the whole series of photographs, and a unique piece of clothing of the auctioneer. The last auctioned object will be the auction hammer.
Christian Jankowski was born in 1968 in Gottingen, Germany. Schooled at the Academy of Fine Arts, Hamburg, Jankowski gained international recognition in the 48th Venice Biennial curated by Harald Szeemann in 1999. Working in a variety of media including video, installation, performance and photography, Jankowski often confounds reality and fiction, while typically engaging the subjects of his works in the creative process. Throughout his career, he has collaborated with fortune tellers, border guards, professional magicians and children all of whom have appeared in his work. Jankowski has shown extensively and has had recent solo exhibitions at: Kunstmuseum, Stuttgart (2009); Galerie Martin Klosterfelde, Berlin (2008); Maccarone, New York (2007); and Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin (2007). Jankowski has also participated in group exhibitions at: ICA, Philadelphia (2008); Villa Manin Center for Contemporary Art, Codroipo, Italy (2008); Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C. (2008); Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati (2008), and the List Center for the Arts, MIT, Cambridge, Massachusetts (2007), the 2002 Whitney Biennial at the Whitney Museum of American Art; the 48th Venice Biennial, among others. He has had a solo exhibition at de Appel in 2001.