'Selected works from the Dolores Mayer collection' was the second part of an exchange organized by initiative Billytown and SID YOUNG.
The exhibition presents a selection of works from the collection of Dolores Mayer (Cologne, Germany), an art collector and earth scientist. Dolores was blinded in 2013, in an accident during fieldwork in Iceland. Despite her condition, Mayer continues to collect, visiting studios and investing in art based on the artists’ stories. Vos Mayer Gallery (Cologne, Germany) owned by her father, focusses on drawing and has directly influenced her taste.
According to rumour, Mayer once ate three drawings that she bought from an artist. The artist told her about ‘three terrible drawings’ she had made, to which Mayer replied, ‘I’ll buy them and eat them for you. They will be hidden in a blind woman. The last place anyone would look for them.’ After that she devoured them, paid and left.
Mayer’s works introduce a paradigm where verbal exchanges and art all form part of one continuous process. They bring about a tension between the role of the artist and the kind of considerations people encounter if they are blind. Inviting a second look, she asks the viewer to question their perceived understanding of things and address the subjective, and culturally determined, act of looking. Shifting the parameters to force us to see what she presents in many different ways.

Participating artists:
Maja Klaassens, NZ,
Gijsje Heemskerk, NL,
Candela Bado, UY,
Julien Guettab, FR,
Afra Eisma, NL,
Bernice Nauta, NL,
Katerina Sidorova, RU,
Debbie Young, UK

Curated by Catherine O'Neill

There were additionally two Blindfolded Tours and a Blindfolded Dinner as part of the programme.

Photographer: Craig Young