Mine: a small space in Oslo asked for a 900 kr "hanging contribution" per piece and said it was normal. I said no. Still wonder if I was being precious about it.
What's the red flag you saw and went ahead anyway? And did it ever turn out fine, or was it exactly what it looked like.
900 kr per piece and they call it normal. That's not a hanging fee, that's a raffle ticket and you're the prize. You weren't being precious. Precious is turning down a chance to show because the lighting's a bit harsh. This is a different animal.
My one: place years back, lovely room, real footfall, and the woman running it had this way of talking where you'd agree to anything before you'd copped you'd agreed. Wanted a third of every sale plus a "contribution" toward the private view, which she described as "the wine and the good glasses." So I was buying back my own opening night, essentially. I went ahead because she'd a wall facing the door and I'd notions of being seen. Sold two prints all month. Turns out most of the sales went to her mates at a discount I hadn't agreed to.
The thing I'd say though, and it took me a while to land on it: the fee isn't always the tell. Some setups that ask for nothing will still waste your year, and I've known one crowd who charged a modest fee and were straight as a die about every cent, did right by everyone. The actual red flag is the explanation. If they've a reason that makes sense on one breath, grand, work away. If they need three sentences and a comparison to how everyone else does it, they're at it.
So no, not precious. You just read the room before the room read you.
Per piece is what made me sit up too. Hanging ten pieces and suddenly it's 9000 kr to be in a room in Oslo. If they'd asked for the flat fee I probably would have said yes and felt mildly ill about it.
What you describe is worse than mine though. Buying back your own private view is good. Mine at least had the decency to be one clear number. Did you go ahead with it, or did you cop the agreement in time?
900 kr per piece is the part that gets me. A flat fee for the show you can almost talk yourself into, but per piece? That means the more you hang the more you pay, so the incentive for them is just... volume. That's not a gallery, that's a rental wall with a nice paint job.
I haven't had that exact one, but I did get a "we love your work, we just need you to cover the printing of the catalogue" once. Small amount, felt rude to say no. Nothing came of it and I never saw the catalogue. Still think about how fast I said yes.
You weren't being precious. Precious is arguing about the lighting. This was money going the wrong direction and you noticed.
the per piece thing does the work quietly, because you say yes to one number and you're already hanging six in your head. the catalogue one is interesting though. I think I'd have said yes faster to that too, and I don't know why. maybe because it feels like you're funding the thing rather than buying your way in, so it dodges the part of your brain that would notice.
That's the bit I couldn't name. Funding the thing feels like generosity, buying in feels like a transaction, and generosity is much easier to say yes to. It's the same money either way.
I said no to Oslo. Still not sure the no was clean, but I've stopped calling it precious.
Per piece is the whole trick, yes. It looks like a small number until you do the arithmetic, and by then you're already imagining the room. The catalogue one is worse in a way, because it's smaller and it comes wrapped in flattery. Harder to refuse. I'd have said yes too.
I don't think I was being precious, but I did spend a week deciding, which is its own kind of telling.