Proposal: DebtFair Phase 2
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Tal Beery
Mar 11, 2014, 9:53:24 PM3/11/14
to debt...@googlegroups.com, occupymuseums-action
Dear DebtFair crew,
I've been giving DebtFair a lot of thought, and I've come to the conclusion that we never quite finished our project. YIKES! Did we fail? What did we learn? What should we do?
I think we learned that a long term organizing effort is not what most of the group, including me, is interested in starting. But I think most of us are still intrigued by the idea of an alternative art market, even an alternative currency, that can raise the issue of debt in culture and build solidarity among debtors. That's cool - a good start. I've been giving DebtFair a lot of thought, and I've come to the conclusion that we never quite finished our project. YIKES! Did we fail? What did we learn? What should we do?
I've especially been caught up with this question: What does art mean in this debt crisis?
Let's get the band back together!
Hope you're all doing well,
Tal
Background:
There's no escaping the debt crisis in America. 37 Million of us are paying off more than one trillion dollars in student loans. Homeowners, credit card holders, the uninsured sick, many local governments and the federal government are also deeply in debt. As more Americans find it harder and harder to pay, enormous over-leveraged banks are thriving. In 2013, Occupy Museums responded with DebtFair, a project to build solidarity between artists and put the debt crisis center stage in art today.
The debt crisis is systemic and a powerful weapon in the class war; a major redistribution engine, it takes money from the 99% to enrich the 1%, staves off hopes for economic advancement, and entrenches millions in or near poverty. Worse yet, it does this while protected by a culture that blames the crisis on its victims: if you're having trouble paying your debt, you probably shouldn't have taken out that loan.
Our culture prevents solidarity between debtors from emerging, but we can challenge and reimagine this. Coming together, our combined debts and mutual aid can create tremendous leverage for change.
In Phase 1, DebtFair hosted an artists' meet up and launched a website that highlights personal debt stories and their impacts on artists' practices. We also began to develop the idea of an artists bailout: a debt relief market where artists could sell their work for checks directly to their loaning banks. For more info, here's some press, and here, and here, and here.
Phase 2:
This September, DebtFair will launch a print series and online marketplace that will offer real debt relief to artists, broaden the audience for DebtFair, build solidarity among debtors, and further expose the massive role of debt in cultural production.
Artists will sign up for free by sending one image of their work, which will be issued on 10 postcard-sized prints. The back of each print will have an image specially designed for DebtFair by designers at the Public Society. The image will signify the piece as a debt relief note, and will list the artist's name, their total debt, and the title of the work.
Each print will be sold for $20 in our online marketplace, which will also include artists’ stories of their debt and art practice. The money raised from sales will be pooled and divided to pay down the principal balance of artist's debts. To conclude the pilot, we will present the checks to the artists' loaning banks in a fun performance to spur additional media attention for the cause.
Timeline
Tal
DebtFair: Phase II
Background:
There's no escaping the debt crisis in America. 37 Million of us are paying off more than one trillion dollars in student loans. Homeowners, credit card holders, the uninsured sick, many local governments and the federal government are also deeply in debt. As more Americans find it harder and harder to pay, enormous over-leveraged banks are thriving. In 2013, Occupy Museums responded with DebtFair, a project to build solidarity between artists and put the debt crisis center stage in art today.
The debt crisis is systemic and a powerful weapon in the class war; a major redistribution engine, it takes money from the 99% to enrich the 1%, staves off hopes for economic advancement, and entrenches millions in or near poverty. Worse yet, it does this while protected by a culture that blames the crisis on its victims: if you're having trouble paying your debt, you probably shouldn't have taken out that loan.
Our culture prevents solidarity between debtors from emerging, but we can challenge and reimagine this. Coming together, our combined debts and mutual aid can create tremendous leverage for change.
In Phase 1, DebtFair hosted an artists' meet up and launched a website that highlights personal debt stories and their impacts on artists' practices. We also began to develop the idea of an artists bailout: a debt relief market where artists could sell their work for checks directly to their loaning banks. For more info, here's some press, and here, and here, and here.
Phase 2:
This September, DebtFair will launch a print series and online marketplace that will offer real debt relief to artists, broaden the audience for DebtFair, build solidarity among debtors, and further expose the massive role of debt in cultural production.
Artists will sign up for free by sending one image of their work, which will be issued on 10 postcard-sized prints. The back of each print will have an image specially designed for DebtFair by designers at the Public Society. The image will signify the piece as a debt relief note, and will list the artist's name, their total debt, and the title of the work.
Each print will be sold for $20 in our online marketplace, which will also include artists’ stories of their debt and art practice. The money raised from sales will be pooled and divided to pay down the principal balance of artist's debts. To conclude the pilot, we will present the checks to the artists' loaning banks in a fun performance to spur additional media attention for the cause.
Timeline
- March 15 Back image is designed
- April Prototypes printed
- April 15 Foundations approached for support - admn+ financial
- June Website in beta, bug testing / internal comment begins
- July Artists approached to participate
- Aug. 15 Web everything confirmed
- Aug 26 Press advisories sent
- Sept. 2014 Launch / Press releases sent
Imani Jacqueline Brown
Mar 11, 2014, 10:24:57 PM3/11/14
to occupymuse...@googlegroups.com, debt...@googlegroups.com
First glance: LOVE
More tomorrow--
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