
“North Pole Futures” offers commissioning contracts for sale in advance of Wong Kit Yi’s participation in the Arctic Circle Expeditionary Residency program: a three-week sojourn of artists and scientists aboard a ship traveling within 10 degrees of the North Pole. The project courts the “choose-your-own-adventure” type of patron. Prospective buyers may pick a date of Wong’s residency, time of day (either morning or night), one of 21 selected pigments, and one of 23 little-used words in the English language. They sign a contract and pay according to a complex formula derived from climate particularities and market values. The resultant artwork—which may take the form of a painting, photograph, sculpture or performance—will be produced by Wong on the ship, on the appointed day and hour, and will draw inspiration from the chosen color and word. The project, as transient as K., formerly P! (soon to be something else entirely), seeks to redefine the collector-artist relationship, as well as the intrinsic and extrinsic values of art.