Abstract
In this paper, we set out four financing models employed by contemporary art institutions in Stockholm, Sweden. We note that financing models vary and that financing can take different forms. While some forms are regarded as unproblematic, others may be perceived as generating 'dirty money'. These different reactions seem to be associated with a number of unspoken rules in the art world that we seek to understand. As a way of exploring these rules, we pay particular attention to the primary sale exhibition "Abstract Possible: The Stockholm Synergies". The exhibition displays elements of five characteristics of an organization - membership, rules, sanctions, hierarchies and monitoring - which qualifies the exhibition as de facto a partial, and possibly even a full, organization. Importantly, the organization then confronts the emerging institution of art institutional financing, which it may even be construed as a protest against, as it makes a point of adhering to the new "rules of the game", in absurdum.