ABC CHOP, 2025
ABC CHOP was a collaboration between ABC [Artists’ Books Cooperative] and ACRE to establish a temporary ‘chop shop’ - The Chop. A one-month performative residency took place over August and September 2025, during which ABC members organised a series of curated happenings - talks, gatherings and performances within the chop shop. ABC CHOP interrogated the role of the shop by presenting bookworks and other multiples that were often overlooked or untraceable within the social, economic and geographic constraints of the contemporary art market.
BASIC NEEDS, a reference to a British product line of the same name, where simple household necessities from electrical fuses to sewing needles are made available by the company to local shops across the country. Arranged on metal stands and easily recognisable through their distinct, minimalist packaging, BASIC NEEDS products are themselves almost works of art, inspiring several artists over time. Each ABC member was invited to submit something that considers, interrogates, plays on or with the idea of a ‘basic need’, especially within a transactional environment of a shop or the broader consumer societies we all live in.
To calculate the price for the chop shop works, each member was asked to itemise materials, time and other production costs which included travel to Berlin. The value of members’ time has been fixed at the German minimum hourly wage at the current rate €12.82 pr/hr.
BASIC NEEDS, a reference to a British product line of the same name, where simple household necessities from electrical fuses to sewing needles are made available by the company to local shops across the country. Arranged on metal stands and easily recognisable through their distinct, minimalist packaging, BASIC NEEDS products are themselves almost works of art, inspiring several artists over time. Each ABC member was invited to submit something that considers, interrogates, plays on or with the idea of a ‘basic need’, especially within a transactional environment of a shop or the broader consumer societies we all live in.
To calculate the price for the chop shop works, each member was asked to itemise materials, time and other production costs which included travel to Berlin. The value of members’ time has been fixed at the German minimum hourly wage at the current rate €12.82 pr/hr.
Staff list:
Claudia de la Torre, George Grace Gibson, John MacLean, Jonathan Lewis, Jonathan Schmidt-Ott, Louis Porter, Lucy Helton, Oliver Griffin, Rahel Zoller, and Wil van Iersel.
Suppliers: Claudia de la Torre, George Grace Gibson, Hwang Eunyoung, Jessica Williams, John MacLean, Jonathan Lewis, Jonathan Schmidt-Ott, Karla Zorrilla, Louis Porter, Lucy Helton, MacDonaldStrand, Monika Orpik, Oliver Griffin , Rahel Zoller and Wil van Iersel
In-store events: Table Chop, Camera Chop Shop, Print Chop, Scent Chop, Archive Chop and Speech Chop
Suppliers: Claudia de la Torre, George Grace Gibson, Hwang Eunyoung, Jessica Williams, John MacLean, Jonathan Lewis, Jonathan Schmidt-Ott, Karla Zorrilla, Louis Porter, Lucy Helton, MacDonaldStrand, Monika Orpik, Oliver Griffin , Rahel Zoller and Wil van Iersel
In-store events: Table Chop, Camera Chop Shop, Print Chop, Scent Chop, Archive Chop and Speech Chop
