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| Noah Fischer, Artist as Debtor, 2015.
Digitally manipulated photograph, 16 x 20 inches. |
Cooper Union
"The
Artist as Debtor: The Work of Artists in the Age of Speculative
Capitalism"
January 23, 2015, 1–9pm
Cooper
Union
The Great Hall
7 East 7th Street
New York
NY 10003
www.artanddebt.org
Facebook / Twitter:
#ArtistasDebtor
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We live in
an era of unprecedented profits from contemporary art sales and massive
debts incurred by art students. Are these phenomena related? Is it a
coincidence that in an age in which art can be made from nothing, the price
attached to an art degree is staggeringly high? Contemporary art
institutions amass great wealth through real estate development and the
value of their holdings—why then do museums, art-related businesses,
and art schools rely so heavily on precarious and unpaid labor provided by
artists? Has the economic structure of art schools always mirrored that of
the commercial art world? What are the connections between big money in the
art world and the big debts taken on by so many young artists? Are artists
encouraged to believe that extreme economic disparity is just part of the
way the art world works? Do romantic ideas about merit and talent mask a
system of indenture?
Artists Noah Fischer (member of Occupy
Museums) and Coco Fusco will present a conference to discuss the art and
the debt economy on January 23, at The Great Hall of
Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art. This event will be
hosted by the Cooper Union. Our featured
speakers include artists Julieta Aranda, William Powhida, Martha Rosler,
Gregory Sholette; writer Brian Kuan Wood; activists from W.A.G.E. and
BFAMFAPHD, and cultural theorist Andrew Ross. Their presentations will
spark dialogue with the audience about a state of affairs that has
relegated so many young artists to a condition of precarity.
We hope to engage students, art workers, and all those interested in art's
future in an extended reflection about ways that the art economy extracts
financial benefits from artists who may not even be selling their art.
We envision this as an opportunity for a growing movement to counter
economic inequality in the arts, to gain strength from collective wisdom,
and to develop better strategies for responding to situations that make
many artists feel powerless.
For more information, please
contact coco....@gmail.com and fische...@gmail.com.
Visit our blog here.
For more
information on the Debt Fair, please click here.
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