Turner Prize-nominated British artist David Shrigley is asking for £1 million plus VAT for his latest art installation consisting entirely of old rope. The unconventional exhibition opens at Stephen Friedman Gallery in London on November 14, featuring what the artist describes as "money for old rope" – quite literally.
Over the past eight months, Shrigley has collected approximately ten tons, equivalent to 20 miles worth, of discarded rope from various sources across the UK. His collection efforts took him to major seaports, climbing schools, tree surgeons, offshore wind farms, scaffolding companies, window-cleaning businesses, and ports. The artist also personally gathered smaller rope lengths from shorelines throughout the country.
After intensive cleaning by Shrigley's studio team, the massive rope collection has been arranged into four enormous piles, with one pile installed in each room of the Cork Street gallery. A neon sign in the gallery window simply reads "exhibition of old rope," emphasizing the straightforward nature of the display.
Shrigley deliberately conceived this project for the commercial gallery setting, describing his £1 million price tag as "more of a provocation." The artist argues that for a giant artwork, £1 million represents "excellent value" when calculated pound for pound or kilo for kilo. However, he acknowledges that for people outside the art world, the price probably appears ridiculous.
Despite the challenging market conditions, Shrigley expresses confidence that his gallery will genuinely attempt to find a buyer for the installation. "It would surprise me if somebody bought it, but you never know," he says, adding that having a price is essential since every artwork needs one. Gallery owner Stephen Friedman told the BBC that potential buyers could include private collectors, institutions, or foundations, stating, "We will find a good home for it."
The artist views this work partly as a playful critique of the art market, though he believes he's primarily undermining his own commercial interests. "I'd probably be a lot better off just doing some paintings, but making this kind of work and having these kinds of conversations are part of the joy of it," Shrigley explains, demonstrating how price and value represent completely different concepts.
For Shrigley, joy and humor form the foundation of his creative work. He compares his motivation for this unusual rope project to the same curiosity that drove him as a child making paintings in school. "My attitude is, 'What happens if I do this? What will it be like?' And that's the same attitude children have when making a painting of a dinosaur," he reflects. "For me, there's something really joyful about making an artwork, whatever that is."
The installation also carries significant conceptual weight. Shrigley describes the rope piles as resembling Tony Cragg sculptures, "except they very much aren't." The installation process itself proved fascinating – the rope was simply piled where it fell from giant sacks. "It's a real non-aesthetic installation, but at the same time you can't really escape from the aesthetics of it; the rope becomes an intriguing object in itself," the artist observes.
The rope collection includes diverse materials, from 20cm-thick Kevlar cables used to drag cruise ships to slim cords employed for marker buoys, longlines, and crab and lobster traps. Most of the rope, aside from a few jute pieces, consists of synthetic polyester and nylon lines, making recycling extremely difficult.
The project highlights a serious environmental issue: globally, an estimated 640,000 tons of discarded marine rope and fishing nets enter the ocean annually. While some nets and ropes are occasionally shredded and converted into threads for clothing and other products, this rarely happens in the art world context.
As Shrigley characteristically puts it, his approach to art-making reflects a practical philosophy: "What do you do with stuff that you can't get rid of? You make it into art." This latest exhibition demonstrates how even the most unconventional materials can be transformed into thought-provoking artistic statements that challenge both market expectations and environmental consciousness.
