Daniel Eatock

The world’s largest signed and numbered limited edition artwork
Whitechapel Gallery, London September 3rd – 17th 2002

I would like to give one million people in the world an idea to share / This idea would be as pretty as a picture / An idea can be an artwork / I want one million people to own this artwork / I want this artwork to be exclusive so you will value it / I have signed and numbered every artwork / Does the artists signature make this artwork exclusive and desirable to you? / You are one of 6,247,210,800 people in the world / You probably do not own any art / If one million people own this artwork there are 6,246,210,800 people that don’t / If you have this artwork you are one in a million / There is so much art it is impossible to know how to value it / Do you ever wonder why some things are worth so much and others so little? / I made this card so you might think about how we value things / I made this card so you would think about how you value yourself

The work took 14 days to produce. 10 people each signed 100,000 postcards, 8 people numbered them with stamping machines, a project coordinator orchestrated the complex task and confirmed/witnessed that each card was signed, numbered and packaged in sequence. A total of 419 A4 boxes each containing 2400 cards (14 pallets) were signed and numbered. Each signatory had to sign a card every 5 seconds, work a ten hour day and only stop for 30 minutes in order to keep on schedule. The artworks were distributed by Boomerang Postcards, and where available for free from postcards racks in galleries, coffee bars, restaurants, cinemas etc. all over England. This project was submitted to Guinness World Records, January 2003. It was not accepted as it was an unrecognised category. The work was funded by Channel 4 Television, and coincided with The Art Show a program about contemporary art and culture. Sean Rogg made a film titled World’s largest signed and numbered limited edition artwork that documents the project.

People involved in the project: Signatories Daniel Eatock Sam Solhaug Hanna Werning Lyn Winter Flávia Müller Medeiros Mark Hopkins Soo Hong Milos Covic Naoko Sato Kirsty Carter Helpers Sara De Bondt Billy Boyle Raymund Brinkmann Sara Carneholm Ulrika Flodberg Charlotte Hopkinson Mette Iversen Sarah Labigne Dawn Parsonage Kate Pelen Luna Raphael Ryan Ras Fran Villani