art as criticism
entrepreneurs are the new labor, boo hoo
Regarding class issues and the new dotcom era discussed in previous posts, here is a depressing chart from Forbes depicting the current state of things, at least in the tech sector:
The article's thesis is "entrepreneurs are the new labor" and while we needn't shed a tear for the fallen strivers who will never be the bad bosses of tomorrow, it helps to have a diagram.
Re: the New Museum's plunge into incubation madness, one might ask: where does an art museum fit in this scheme? And do artists count as "true hustlers"? OK, let's not go there.
sold
GIF by Rene Abythe re-enacts the recent "Paddles down" cyber-auction where my OptiDisc GIF was "bought in" by a consortium of private investors and will now be viewable only on approved institutions' "art computers." A mobile device (above) was used in the bidding, employing a complicated algorithm developed in a recent Rhizome "Seven on Seven" symposium.
This is all nonsense, of course, pertaining to the ongoing obsession of new media types with $$$, and the uneasy marriage of start-up culture with the anti-capitalist avant garde. Have an art idea? Don't starve like Van Gogh -- get backers and monetize it! No backer likes your work? Crowdfund it! The crowd hates your work? Then maybe you aren't really an artist!
