Whitechapel Art Gallery, London
30 March - 18 May 2008

To launch the Whitechapel’s project, The Street, Solakov offers one lucky winner a unique, specially created artwork (see top image). To enter this year-long lottery, an item worth at least £5 must be purchased from Petticoat Lane Market. This item is then deposited at the project’s headquarters - The Shop, in Toynbee Street - along with the purchaser’s contact details. At the end of the year, a trader picks a winner from the accumulated archive.

Playing with traditions of commerce and exchange, Solakov simultaneously entwines and explores the economies of a street market and the art market.

Please have a look at this drawing. If you like its story and the way it is done, you may have it for (almost) free. The only thing you should do is browse the market outside and buy whatever item you wish not cheaper than 5 pounds (and don't forget to take the trader number from the merchant as a precautionary measure - we would like to be sure that the item you will bring is not coming from your attic). Then take the item back here, and after leaving your contact details in the big red book, put a tag with your lottery number on the merchandise and store it in the back space. In the spring of 2009 when the project will end an appointed-by-Whitechapel-three-member-jury will unanimously select a trader from the street market and he/she will be asked to pick up a number between 1 and … (the number on the last item purchased). Then the merchant-selector will be brought to the storage and will receive the item with that number for free (there will be one more bonus for him/her which is still a secret), and - most importantly - the selected number will indicate the winner of the drawing who will be immediately notified and presented with it.