McKenzie Wark
After Market Art that refuses commodification can end up caught in a no less perverse economy of prestige, which in turn lends itself to a secondary market. Museums and universities collect the fossil record of noncommodity art, for resale and repackaging as the loss leaders of prestigious cultural production. Trophy Fine art and fine ass, both fine because they are finite. Calendar Cultures mark time; while time judges cultures. Culture Vulture Is there anything left of culture, beyond its ability to say "no"? Distinctions Culture, like politics, is the art of the possible. But while politics is the art of the probably possible, culture is the art of the possibly possible. Art is the impossible. Hanging Judge The purpose of good art is to kill bad criticism. Gasworks The aesthetic which once existed to dull the pain of life yielded that task to the anaesthetic. But once confronted with the anaesthetic of commodity culture rendering pain not merely dull but unintelligible, art finds it prudent to switch tactics, and cause it. Last Laugh The artist who had passed away has no choice but to take criticism lying down. The Otherness, When It Comes The last form of free creativity is to work with cunning and diligence at the production of the semblance of one's own idiocy. Stupid as a Painter For art to be smart it needs only to be true to itself. It is true to itself only by becoming otherwise. Refluxus Gorged on art, we aesthetes have lost the taste for it. What remains is the aftertaste. Refinement Fine art -- finished. McKenzie Wark New York & Sydney |
