Emphasizing Inc. as an Artistic Medium

But the art of "Cottage Industry" isn't just feel-good community service. Berlin-based Christine Hill, who brands her work "Volksboutique" as if her artistic output were a business, moves uncomfortably close to the strategies she critiques.

One section of Hill's work is an edition of her ongoing "Vendor Archive," a series of photographs documenting local businesses around the world.

Yet Hill didn't have much to do with the Baltimore incarnation: She asked Contemporary Museum Executive Director Irene Hofmann to hook her up with a local artist -- in this case, photographer T.J. Proechel. During a brief visit to Baltimore, Hill showed Proechel past versions of her project as the pair brainstormed appropriate Baltimore vendors. She then dispatched Proechel to photograph and interview them.

In "Cottage Industry," pictures of the vendors hang as part of Hill's work. All Proechel gets is a "Photographed for Volksboutique by T.J. Proechel" credit in the margins of the wall text and exhibition catalogue.

Turns out he's just another subcontractor, like the artists toiling for Murakami and Koons.

Hill's other offerings are equally irksome. Also on view here, a "Receptionist Trunk." Like an oversize steamer trunk full of personal effects, it's meant to outfit the lifestyle of someone who answers the phones. Although it might be meant to critique a job rather than those who do it, it comes off as patronizing -- as if we were all interchangeable parts, without personal quirks or preferences.

The critique leveraged by Hill and her cohort, along with the indulgence of some of their endeavors -- did I mention Auerbach's unicycle-renting shack? -- can grate. The whiff of privilege is everywhere here.

But when the artists get you down, there's always the Tract House and its everyday wisdom -- free of charge.

Cottage Industry, at the Contemporary Museum, 100 W. Centre St., Baltimore, Wednesday-Sunday noon-5 p.m., 410-783-5720, to Aug. 24.

The Tract House is at 123 Saratoga St.

Edible Estates is at 3815 Barrington Rd., about a 20-minute drive from the museum. http://www.contemporary.org.