Above image: Melanie Bonajo Night Soil – Economy of Love 2015

German photographer Wolfgang Tillmans is calling upon his global network of artistic friends to produce a poster each that can be sold to help raise money for clubs, bars, art spaces and music venues affected by the current lockdown.

40 names including Thomas Ruff, Marlene Dumas, Gillian Wearing and Betty Tompkins have responded to the call with posters that are priced at $50/€50/£50, “a similar amount of money that you might have spent at one of these spaces on a night out,” Tillmans told the Guardian.

“There are many places that may not get help or bailed out because they are informal places, in culture, nightlife, and music. I feel an urgency to do something so they don’t have to close down permanently.”

Contributions range from new works to archives, photographs to paintings, escapist fantasies to topical commentaries. American painter Nicole Eisenman for example has chosen to paint a couple embracing over a bottle of wine, with the caption, ‘Never Forget Kissing in Bars’. Tilmans has opted for a still life shot of his studio, the last image he printed before the lockdown began, while British artist Gillian Wearing has opted for an image from her archives, specifically her excellent early 90s series, Signs that say what you want them to say and not Signs that say what someone else wants you to say.

Tillmans will be covering the print costs from his own pocket and will assist venues with shipping and distribution. Posters will be available to purchase directly from participating businesses to ensure that they take 100 percent of the proceeds, with a specially-designed website that directs customers to the website of specific businesses. So far, the initiative has attracted interest from venues in London, New York, Berlin and Warsaw, with the artist hoping that this is only the beginning.

See the available posters for sale here.