Another Perspective on the Visual Arts Summit
Google has finally uncovered that YYZ was also blogging at the Visual Arts Summit. While my posts were mostly reflective and condensed the pages of notes I scribbled, YYZ included what looks like their original notes from the event. And they have pictures!
Tags: art, Canada, visual arts summit
Thanks for this acknowledgment and link! Your notes are very helpful, especially Shawna Dempsey’s remarks, which I totally failed to get.
I don’t entirely agree with Shawna’s view, or Aaron Milrad’s comments either, because they sound too much like they are begging; privileging the idea of artists as beholding to others, charity cases. Not to blame us but artists do buy into that view too; a view that valourizes poverty as an indicator of ‘high mindedness:’ intellectualism, spirituality, criticality, ethics. It’s not just artists who buy into that but everyone at all levels and across social classes. But at the same time, artists are also exceptionally resourceful, supported by partners, interesting second careers, teaching, etc. and also take the money off the rich when they can get it without flinching… off the very people one (some) might argue are responsible for this deplorable situation.
I’m quite interested in CARFAC’s list of solutions to the chronic poverty of the artist, but I’m not sure they’ve got it entirely right either. In my mind, artists need to work in a more directly useful or integrated way, less ‘art’ and more artful perhaps, at the same time as we need to dispell ideas that art and artists are somehow ‘special.’ We could start the latter by stopping thinking that we are ‘specially’ poor.
If you don’t want to be the economic caboose, then you have to unhook from the train of capital.
Thanks for dropping by, Robert!
I agree that many people, artists included, buy into the “poverty chic” concept. But I wonder how many artists have the chance to “take the money off the rich when they can get it”…and take enough money that they can sustain themselves comfortably. There’s certainly more that needs to happen to find the root cause, and one of the things I took away from Shawna’s remarks was that we need to acknowledge artists’ financial situation as a real problem.
I think part of the problem with the thinking that artists are ‘specially’ poor is that we aren’t seen as small/independent business owners— by ourselves or by others. Speaking for myself, it seems that CARFAC’s list is working on addressing some of those issues, such as the resale right and creation of a social security net. If you have any ideas about how the list could be improved, I’m sure the office would be happy to hear from you.
I am very intrigued by what you mean by being more artful. Would you mind elaborating on that?