Montreal Biennale 2009, Shopdropping Vernissage

Shopdropping documentation, IGA, Montreal

Shopdropping documentation, Provigo, Montreal

Shopdropping documentation, ALDI, Germany

Shopdropping documentation, (Re)Purchased Somnium can

Somnium – Shopdropping

Shopdropping is "reverse shoplifting": you buy and item, artistically modify it, and then sneak it back into the store where you bought it. It is important to document your shopdrop by surreptitiously taking photos of your installation. Montreal artists Natalie Reis and Vanda Daftari invited Bettina to participate in the Shopdropping project at the 2009 Montreal Biennale. She executed Shopdrops in four different Montreal supermarkets, as well as one in Hamburg, Germany. The artworks she 'dropped' were cans of beans where she had replaced the labels with her own prints. The new labels told the story of the Somnium and featured some of her Somnium Series images. For one shopdrop she also slid long paper strips with a Somnium-inspired poem into the plastic covering fronting each shelf (where you would usually find the prices) to create a life-sized poem.
Bettina said "It is surreal to see your artworks on supermarket shelves, but that is also part of the guerilla-art aspect of the shopdropping concept: by inserting art in a public space shopdroppers create access to art for an audience that may not usually visit art galleries. And it allows artists to circumvent the art gallery infrastructure, allowing them to introduce their art directly to the public."