furtherfield on Wed, 16 Jan 2002 05:55:01 +0100 (CET)


[Date Prev] [Date Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Date Index] [Thread Index]

[Nettime-bold] Competitive Morphing and Theme Adoption in the Art's (of Alienation)


Competitive Morphing and Theme Adoption in the Art's (of Alienation)



Economically, the most successful businesses are those that are able to
adapt to the ever-shifting goal posts of the global market. Artists these
days are used to shape shifting. There was once a time when an artist would
sneer at the idea of having to change their work to fit into a
gallery/institutional/competitions' criteria. Yet one of the forms of
getting one's work seen or accepted to a larger audience other than
self-marketing tactics is to take part in competitions.



For many institutions it is way of filtering out many artists via a theme or
aesthetic function. For the more individual of creative entities who do not
wish to conform to such antics, this kind of action by funded Art's
organizations and institutions automatically constructs a chasm between
officially recognized artists and the unofficial. Therefore not dealing with
the issue of representing artists and the themes of their work on their own
terms. Even though some of the officially accepted artists may be
interesting in their own right. The traditional 'winner is best syndrome' is
a myth brought about via competitive means alone rather than dealing with
the true nature and content of what an artist can offer. The result of this
type of unquestioning deed supports more the bandwagon jumpers rather the
more original of talents who of course are going to find it harder to be
accepted in view of the spirit of their independence. Then you get the usual
suspects appearing over and over again in the press, art events, exhibitions
getting praise whilst the more challenging are ostracised from doing what
they believe.



Part of the problem is that many artists who are well connected to
institutions are not interested in people and creative explorers who are
actively working outside of their field. Yet they are very interested in
their ideas and how they could use them to gain personal status in the eyes
of the art arena, plus gain power and capital. So artists who have
previously 'for their own valid reasons' existed outside of the conditioned
art circles making work that is just as challenging will get pushed aside by
default. This undemocratic process has remained unchallenged by many
practising artists who have come out the institutional world because it
serves them well not to change such things. This act of complicit ignorance
by artists who say things such as 'I'm just here to do my art' are part of
the problem as well as the curators/organisations who lack the imagination
to amend their way of showing new artists.



It is an illusion that art organisations are helping artists when in reality
they are putting them against each other via the process of competitive
commissions not reflecting the true essence of what is really going on in
the art world creatively. Once the lazy presumption has been dissolved, that
artists only exist within institutional realms. Then true change may come
about. Until then morph yourself and conform to someone else's ideas and
terms - then you will be allowed in.



marc garrett



http:www.furtherfield.org









_______________________________________________
Nettime-bold mailing list
Nettime-bold@nettime.org
http://amsterdam.nettime.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/nettime-bold