Artist Sung Tieu has sold her 2025 work *Declaration of Donation* for €25,000, with proceeds funding a five-year term for a new board member at KW Institute of Contemporary Art in Berlin. The work, created for her exhibition “1992, 2025” at KW, consists of a contract engraved on four mirrors that criticizes the institution’s €5,000 yearly board member fee, arguing it limits board diversity. Tieu nominated curator Mi You for the position, and KW director Emma Enderby expressed gratitude for the provocation.
This matters because the sale turns institutional critique into direct structural reform, using the artwork’s proceeds to challenge the economic gatekeeping Tieu’s piece condemns. It highlights ongoing tensions between funding models and diversity in cultural institutions, while demonstrating how artists can leverage the market to enact change from within.