Capital A: Unauthorized Opinions on Money, Art & Everything – Details, episodes & analysis

How do you make a living as an artist when the big platforms price your work at zero? How do you get your big break when all the institutions that used to discover young artists have been decimated by the tech monopolies? In this episode, I talk to essayist and critic William Deresiewicz about his book, The Death of the Artist: How Creators Are Struggling to Survive in the Age of Billionaires and Big Tech.

BILL'S WEBSITE

billderesiewicz.com

WORKS CITED

-Deresiewicz, William. The Death of the Artist: How Creators Are Struggling to Survive in the Age of Billionaires and Big Tech. New York, New York: Henry Holt and Co., 2020.

-Khan, Lina M. “Amazon’s Antitrust Paradox.” The Yale Law Journal 126, no. 3 (January 2017). https://www.yalelawjournal.org/note/amazons-antitrust-paradox.

-Davis, Ben. 9.5 Theses on Art and Class. Chicago, Illinois: Haymarket Books, 2013.

-Graeber, David. Bullshit Jobs: A Theory. 1st edition. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2018.

-Deresiewicz, William. “Stages of Grief: What the Pandemic Has Done to the Arts.” Harper’s Magazine, May 12, 2021. https://harpers.org/archive/2021/06/stages-of-grief-what-the-pandemic-has-done-to-the-arts/.

-Lanier, Jaron. “Opinion | Jaron Lanier Fixes the Internet.” The New York Times, September 23, 2019, sec. Opinion. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/09/23/opinion/data-privacy-jaron-lanier.html.

MUSIC

-Theme music and consultation: Georgina Rossi, www.georginarossi.com

-Interlude: Alban Berg, 4 Stücke for clarinet and piano, Op.5; Carol McGonnell, clarinet; Steven Beck, piano

SPONSOR

Capital A is sponsored by Shoestring Press in Brooklyn: www.shoestringpressny.com

With climate change, inequality, and Covid-19 raging just outside our windows, it can sometimes feel like we live in a world without a future. How did we get here? And how do we get back out? How do we reinstate the future if we no longer believe in progress? Recorded on lockdown during the coronavirus outbreak in New York, this is part 1 of a three-part episode exploring our society's tacit belief in the "the end of history," and what we can do to shed this politically-charged and dangerous illusion.

WORKS CITED

-Lyotard, Jean-Francois. The Postmodern Condition: A Report on Knowledge. Translated by Geoff Bennington and Brian Massumi. 1st edition. Minneapolis: University Of Minnesota Press, 1984.

-Piketty, Thomas. Capital and Ideology. Translated by Arthur Goldhammer. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Belknap Press: An Imprint of Harvard University Press, 2020.

-Žižek, Slavoj. “Beyond Mandela Without Becoming Mugabe: Some Postapocalyptic Considerations.” Deutsches Schauspielhaus, Hamburg, Germany, November 19, 2015. From YouTube user Ippolit Belinski, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a5DiZBb8f6A

-Danto, Arthur C. After the End of Art. New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1998.

-Fukuyama, Francis. “The End of History?” The National Interest, no. 16 (1989): 3–18.

-Jameson, Fredric. Postmodernism, or, The Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1992.

-Bradbury, Ray. Dandelion Wine. Bantam Books, 1976.

-Moore, Michael. “Michael Moore’s Easter Mass.” Rumble with Michael Moore. Accessed April 11, 2020. https://anchor.fm/rumble-with-michael-moore

MUSIC

-Theme music and consultation: Georgina Rossi, www.georginarossi.com

-Interlude: Franz Schubert, Erlkönig, based on the poem by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

It’s common knowledge that today, there is no unifying theme or essence to contemporary art. Having finally broken all of its own rules, the story goes that art is now free to be anything it wants to be. But while this idea is generally accepted, is it really true? Episode 5 argues that there is a common element to contemporary art today—a certain mode of production or attitude which it borrows from the worldview of marketing and branding.

WORKS CITED

-Danto, Arthur C. After the End of Art. New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1998.

-Hyde, Lewis. The Gift: Creativity and the Artist in the Modern World. 25th Anniversary edition. New York: Vintage, 2007.

MUSIC

-Theme music and musical consultation: Georgina Rossi, www.georginarossi.com

-Interlude: Igor Stravinsky, Tango

Why is it that most of the galleries out there are chasing the same small group of elite collectors? In this interview with Maddie Boucher, the former head of Artsy's Art Genome Project, Episode 4 asks why life is tough for small galleries—and what we the 99% can do to start thinking of ourselves as people who can collect art and support the artists that we love.

Learn more about Maddie and her work at: madeleineboucher.com

MUSIC

-Theme music and consultation: Georgina Rossi, www.georginarossi.com

-Interlude: Joseph Haydn, String Quartet No. 53 in D major ("The Lark") - II. Adagio, Cantabile

How does the wealth gap impact artists' ability to relate to one another? Episode 2, Part I explores how concentrations of capital at the top of the market affect inter-relationships between working artists.

WORKS CITED

-Levin, Yuval. The Great Debate: Edmund Burke, Thomas Paine, and the Birth of Right and Left. New York: Basic Books, 2014.

-Horkheimer, Max, and Theodor W. Adorno. Dialectic of Enlightenment. Edited by Gunzelin Schmid Noerr. Translated by Edmund Jephcott. 1 edition. Stanford, Calif: Stanford University Press, 2007.

MUSIC

-Theme music and musical consultation: Georgina Rossi, www.georginarossi.com

-Interlude: Felix Mendelssohn, String Octent in E-flat Major - III. Scherzo: Allegro leggierissimo

Why does being an artist increasingly feel like sending your blood, sweat and tears into the void? Episode 2, Part I explores how concentrations of capital at the top of the market make life hard for working artists on a macro, systemic level.

WORKS CITED

-Marx, Karl. Capital: A Critique of Political Economy. Edited by Frederick Engels. Translated by Samuel Moore and Edward Aveling. Revised edition. Modern Library, 1906, p. 686.

-Debord, Guy. The Society of the Spectacle. Translated by Donald Nicholson-Smith. Revised edition. New York: Zone Books, 1995, §4, §29.

THOUGHT CONTRIBUTORS

-Georgina Rossi, Violist, www.georginarossi.com

-Lane Sell, Master Printmaker, www.shoestringpressny.com

-Sam Ashworth, Novelist and Journalist, samuelashworth.com

-Anonymous, Assistant Director on Broadway

MUSIC

-Theme music and musical consultation: Georgina Rossi, www.georginarossi.com

-Interlude: Ludwig Beethoven, String Quartet No. 16 in F - IV.  Grave, Adagio, Allegro

What is the difference between a space and a venue? Episode 1 explores what space is, and why it is crucial to working artists.

WORKS CITED

-Fusco, Coco. SVA Art Practice Lunchtime Lecture Series. New York, n.d. https://vimeo.com/292362674.

-Bishop, Claire. “Palace in Plunderland.” Artforum, Slant, September 2018.

-Richter, Hans. Dada: Art and Anti-Art. Reprint edition. New York: Thames & Hudson, 1997.

-Thornton, Sarah. Seven Days in the Art World. W. W. Norton & Company, 2008.

-Bourdieu, Pierre. Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgement of Taste. 1 edition. London: Routledge, 1986.

-Thompson, Nato. Seeing Power: Art and Activism in the Twenty-First Century. Brooklyn, NY: Melville House, 2014.

MUSIC

-Theme music and musical consultation: Georgina Rossi, www.georginarossi.com

-Interlude: Anton Bruckner, Symphony in D. Minor, "Die Nullte" - III. Scherzo

On a recent walk to the Museo de Bellas Artes in protest-ravaged Santiago de Chile, I try to respond to all the work I see through the lens of this question: who does art speak to?

WORKS CITED

-Berger, John. “Revolutionary Undoing: On Max Raphael’s The Demands of Art.” In Landscapes: John Berger on Art, edited by Tom Overton, Reprint edition. London ; New York: Verso, 2018.

-Lescaze, Zoë. “An Artist Who Disavows the Possibility of Individual Agency.” The New York Times, November 12, 2021, sec. T Magazine. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/12/t-magazine/agnieszka-kurant-art.html.

MUSIC

-Theme music and consultation: Georgina Rossi, www.georginarossi.com

-Interlude: W.A. Mozart, Commendatore Scene from Don Giovanni

SPONSOR

Capital A is sponsored by Shoestring Press in Brooklyn: www.shoestringpressny.com

Can art really create political change? What are the conditions that make this possible if and when it happens? What are the social ingredients that make for good art scenes? ...and what the hell was up with the DNC last year? In a sobering interview, Ben Davis, National Art Critic for ArtNet News and self-avowed Marxist, reminds us to be realistic about art's ability to change a world it is only one small part of—but also to rid ourselves of the expectation that in order to be good, art must change the world.

WHERE TO READ BEN'S WORK

-https://news.artnet.com/about/ben-davis-93

-Davis, Ben. 9.5 Theses on Art and Class. Chicago, Illinois: Haymarket Books, 2013.

WORKS CITED

-Mayer, Jane. Dark Money: The Hidden History of the Billionaires Behind the Rise of the Radical Right. Reprint edition. Anchor, 2017.

-Thompson, Nato. Seeing Power: Art and Activism in the Twenty-First Century. Brooklyn, NY: Melville House, 2014.

-Piketty, Thomas. Capital and Ideology. Translated by Arthur Goldhammer. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Belknap Press: An Imprint of Harvard University Press, 2020.

-Harney, Stefano, and Fred Moten. The Undercommons: Fugitive Planning & Black Study. 1st edition. Wivenhoe: Autonomedia, 2013.

-English, Darby. Art Historian Darby English on Why the New Black Renaissance Might Actually Represent a Step Backwards. Interview by Folasade Ologundudu, February 21, 2021. https://news.artnet.com/art-world/darby-english-1947080.

-Smucker, Jonathan. Hegemony How-To: A Roadmap for Radicals. AK Press, 2017.

-Davis, Ben. “Alice Neel’s Communism Is Essential to Her Art. You Can See It in the ‘Battlefield’ of Her Paintings, and Her Cruel Portrait of Her Son.” Artnet News, April 15, 2021. https://news.artnet.com/opinion/alice-neel-was-a-commie-a-battlefield-of-humanism-1958503.

-Althusser, Louis. For Marx. Translated by Ben Brewster. London ; New York: Verso, 2006.

MUSIC

-Theme music and consultation: Georgina Rossi, www.georginarossi.com

-Interlude: Béla Bartók, String Quartet No. 1 in A Minor

SPONSOR

Capital A is sponsored by Shoestring Press: www.shoestringpressny.com

They receive about as much training as olympic athletes, and yet very few people have a sense of what life looks like for classical musicians today. This interview with Chilean-American violist Georgina Rossi covers a lot of ground: the nuts and bolts of a career in classical music, how society defines and compensates artistic labor, and simple things we as listeners can do to support the musicians that we love. Interwoven throughout the interview are excerpts from Georgina’s new album Mobili: Music for Viola and Piano from Chile. Enjoy!

WORKS CITED

Stone, Russell Dean. “‘He’s Got A Point, It’s Just That His Point Sucks’ – Artists React to Spotify CEO Saying They Need to Work Harder.” Vice, August 7, 2020. https://www.vice.com/en/article/5dzje3/daniel-ek-spotify-artists-pay-interview.

Wark, McKenzie. Capital Is Dead: Is This Something Worse? Verso, 2019.

MUSIC

Interlude 1: Rafael Díaz, Al fondo de mi distancia se asoma tu casa (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrWhxGd6TZNb-u1n7Yqjwmw)

Interlude 2: Carlos Botto, Fantasia

Interlude 3: Juan Orrego-Salas, Mobili

Interlude 4: David Cortes, Tololo (http://davidcortes.cl)

Interlude 5: Rafael Díaz, ¿Habrá alguien que en sus manos sostenga este caer?

All music from the album: Mobili: Music for Viola and Piano from Chile: https://www.newfocusrecordings.com/catalogue/georgina-isabel-rossi-mobili-music-for-viola-and-piano-from-chile/

Viola: Georgina Rossi (www.georginarossi.com)

Piano: Silvie Cheng (www.silviecheng.com)

Released by: New Focus Recordings (https://www.newfocusrecordings.com)

Recorded at: Oktaven audiO (http://www.oktavenaudio.com/)

WHERE TO HIRE CLASSICAL MUSICIANS

Hire Juilliard Performers (www.juilliard.edu/stage-beyond/hire-juilliard-performers)

WHERE TO STREAM MUSIC

Bandcamp (bandcamp.com)

A SELECTION OF MUSICIAN-LED COLLECTIVES & ENSEMBLES TO SUPPORT

ACRONYM (www.acronymensemble.com/albums)

American Composers Orchestra (americancomposers.org)

American Stories Podcast ‎(podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/american-stories/id1512423110)

Argus Quartet (fundraising.fracturedatlas.org/argus-quartet)

Cheng2Duo (https://www.cheng2duo.com)

Digital Camerata (digitalcamerata.org/#support)

Kettle Corn New Music (kettlecornnewmusic.com/support)

Music for Food (musicforfood.net)

New Focus Recordings (www.newfocusrecordings.com)

Oktaven AudiO (http://www.oktavenaudio.com/)

Project Music Heals Us (www.pmhu.org)

Shouthouse (www.shouthousemusic.com)

Switch Ensemble (www.switchensemble.com)

Tak Ensemble (www.takensemble.com)

Tenet Vocal Artists (https://tenet.nyc/support)

The Crossing (www.crossingchoir.org)

The Westerlies (www.westerliesmusic.com)

Ulysses Quartet (www.ulyssesquartet.com)

Versoi Ensemble (www.versoiensemble.org)

Not included in this list are dozens of regional orchestras and summer music festivals across the country. Look up your local symphony, chamber orchestra, or music festival, and make a point of buying tickets and attending concerts!