{"id":3176,"date":"2019-01-09T23:48:34","date_gmt":"2019-01-09T22:48:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/klf.de\/home\/?page_id=3176"},"modified":"2023-04-18T17:23:07","modified_gmt":"2023-04-18T15:23:07","slug":"k-foundation-art-award","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/klf.de\/home\/k-foundation-art-award\/","title":{"rendered":"The K Foundation Art Award"},"content":{"rendered":"

In June 1993 an organisation called the K-Foundation began taking out full page mainstream national press ad\u2019s. At first they were full of Drummond-esques about time running in, and \u201cKick out the Klocks\u201d, and five year journeys which included pop success and deep space travel. A \u2018further information address\u2019 was included. Then a fourth ad appeared, on August 14th, reading: \u201cABANDON ALL ART NOW. Await further announcements. Major rethink in progress.\u201d<\/p>\n

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“Abandon All Art Now” advert by The K Foundation (NME, 14 Aug 1993)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The next ad (28th Aug) read: \u201cIt has come to our attention that you did not abandon all art now. Further direct action is thus necessary. The K Foundation announce the \u2018mutha of all awards\u2019, the 1994 K Foundation award for the worst artist of the year\u2019. It then went on to detail how a shortlist of four artists had been chosen, and that they would be exhibited in the Tate Gallery. The first newspaper piece about the K-F appeared the following Monday, correctly pointing out that the shortlist of named artists and the exhibition were actually both for the 1993 Turner Prize, the controversial annual award given by the UK art establishment to the best young modern artist, which came with a prize of 20000 pounds, but incorrectly assuming that the K-F prize was a hoax. Note the date that the award was to be announced \u2013 23rd November, and note the fact that it is the 1994 K-F award as opposed to the 1993 Turner award. Obviously this signifies that the K-F are more forward-looking than the Turner, but also try adding 1+9+9+4 together. If you think I\u2019m being pedantic, adding the individual numbers in years together is a standard Discordian thing to do. My [Stuart] theory is that Bill and Jimi were happy with their deliberately weird ads, when they heard that the Turner would be announced on the 23rd of November, decided that that was an opportunity too good to miss, cancelled their previous plans and never sent out any of the further information packs. Bill says he still has all the SAEs which they received, and they may be replied to at some time in the future.<\/p>\n\n