d.garcia on Tue, 6 Jan 2015 03:29:09 +0100 (CET) |
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<nettime> The Death of the Artist -- and the Birth of th |
Maybe its time to turn to the writings of a true art lover Someone who values in the possibility of radical singularity and autonomous expression. So let me recommend Art critic and theorist Thierry de Duves wonderful little book, Sewn in the Sweatshops of Marx, as a useful way to engage with the powerful contemporary myth of creativity. Although the books overt subject is the work of four legendary modern artists, Beuys, Warhol, Klein and Duchamp, what gives these essays relevance, is that he examines the work and lives of theses artists through the lens of the political economy. All four essays are of interest but from the perspective of this posting it is the first two chapters (juxtaposing the art and personalities of Beuys and Warhol) which generate the most important insights. From the friction between the two radically differing narratives we can extrapolate the key contradictions and paradoxes that constitute the core propositions of the Creative industries; universal creative participation through user generated content and the perpetual stimulation of desire and thus commerce. In Duve's writing we encounter Beuys, as the last truly great exponent of the romantic movement, an artist for whom creativity was the potential that resided in each and every one of us. It lead to his twin proposition that not only was everyone was an artist but also that art could no longer be seen as a profession. For Beuys capitalism remained the cultural horizon to leave behind...Beuys based his art is based on will and thus on the principal of production, Warhol based art on desire and thus the principle of consumption;This inescapable binary are like the two sides of the creative industries coin, universal creativity (or compulsory innovation) and endless commerce. But Warhol was perhaps more prescient anticipating the core shift in power relations that was taking place where the figure of the consumer takes center stage alongside (or even instead of) the worker, or better where these two figures are merged. Hardt and Negri thus speak of affective labor, Duve claims that Beuys believed in creativity and Warhol did notfor Beuys art was labor while for Warhol it was commerce. But despite the apparent gulf between these two artists something separates these two artists from the Creative Industries and it is not simply capitalism. After all the very essence of Warhol's work is to ignore use value and exclusively instantiate exchange value. What separates Warhol and Beuys from the denizens of the Creative Industries to come was that they both (in radically different ways) inhabited what Duve describes as a 19th century invention, the mythical country of bohemia. Duve describes a country peopled where flaneurs and dandies cross paths with peddlers and rag pickers; and the only one radically denied a visa is the bourgoeois..Dickens and Zola have described this dark fringe of industrialization, these shady interstices of urbanization. ..(also Baudelaire and Hugo) they drew inspiration from this marginal society but also contributed to the fabrication of its image. .. Daumier, Degas, Toulouse Lautrec the Picasso of the Blue and Rose period To this gallery of portraits Beuys adds his own..." And so does Warhol But the inhabitants of Warhols version of bohemia, the inhabitants of the Factory have no access to the 19th centurie's most powerful invention, the weapon of solidarity. encapsulated by Marxs conception of the prolatarian class "as united through their labor power as individuals both belonging to the exploited alienated class and carrying the emancipated destiny of species." Duve points out Warhol's superstars are all isolated individuals. "Their were no social types in Warhols bohemia, no acrobats or ragpickers, but rather proper names: Edie Sedgwick, Gerard Malanga, Ron Tavel, Brigid Polk, Candy Darling, Viva, Ondine, Billy Name each with his or her quirks, neurosis, sexual speciality, and idiom.". In the end they are victims, victims of Warhol's exploitative regime, and the means by which this was achieved points to the future described. A creative economy based on mass self-exploitation and affective labor. ------------------------ d a v i d g a r c i a new-tactical-research.co.uk # distributed via <nettime>: no commercial use without permission # <nettime> is a moderated mailing list for net criticism, # collaborative text filtering and cultural politics of the nets # more info: http://mx.kein.org/mailman/listinfo/nettime-l # archive: http://www.nettime.org contact: nettime@kein.org