If you think money can buy everything, think again!
An artist challenges the rules of the system with a project called “The IQ-Series”, where money is not enough to get you a piece of his art. To be selected to buy one of the prints, you first need to pass a short challenge testing your intelligence.
Each one of the four print editions is being released individually within a specific period. To qualify for buying one of the prints, you will first need to pass an intelligence test. The test is open for everyone for a few weeks, then it’s time to pick the winners. The top 1% who are gifted enough to pass the test, are notified via email with instructions about the drop.
As a cherry on top, after the completion of the four-print series, those who manage to buy one of the four print designs will compete in a final “Intelligence competition”, where the winner will receive $100k.
After a fan of the artist posted about this project on TikTok, thousands of people flocked to the website to try and solve the first challenge, a math riddle involving roman numerals. Of all the people who participated, 89 succeeded. Shortly after, a few of the prints resold for over $20k to collectors who were enamored with the concept but couldn’t solve the IQ riddle themselves.
“I just got frustrated by the attitude of wealthy individuals who buy art as a pretentious way of showing off to their rich friends. Art needs to represent something more than that”, the artist commented. “When you see a piece of art with my signature on someone’s wall, I want it to represent something more than just “I had the money to buy it”. I want it to mean “I had the brains to get it”.
“To be honest, my whole life I kept my circle small. I only created works of art for very specific clients who knew my thought process and enjoyed the quirkiness of the art”. “I once made an unfinished painting for a Chinese collector who lives in Germany, with the condition that every year I visit his house and progress the painting just a little bit. That painting will be completed in 20 years from now, and that guy will probably be dead. But that’s the point of the art. As I always say, art is the thought process, not an object.”
“I never cared about social media, and I don’t plan to start now, even though I know times have changed. I remain loyal to my art, and my art alone. Marketing is none of my concerns. I like questioning the norm, flipping the rules, and creating quirky art. Everything else is secondary”.
If you want to be a part of the high IQ elite that qualifies for a print, you can try the challenge for the second print, which is currently live on Agustiano’s website.
