20140610 eyeo - marius watz - field reports about art + tech

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Inconvenient truths about (digital) art, hard-earned insights from the curious intersection of art, design and startup culture.

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    20140611 MARIUS WATZ - EYEO FESTIVAL 2014, MINNEAPOLIS

    FIELD REPORTS FROM THE TRENCHES

    OF ART & TECHNOLOGY

    Hard-earned insights from the curious intersection ofart, design and startup culture. Including:

    Inconvenient truths about (digital) art

    Myths, misconceptions and the realities of being aprofessional artist

    TWITTER.COM/MARIUSWATZMARIUSWATZ.COMGENERATORX.NO

    FLICKR.COM/PHOTOS/WATZWORKSHOP.EVOLUTIONZONE.COM

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    IMPLICITLY SUBTITLED

    Things I Didnt Know About The Art World,

    But Really Wish Someone Had Told Me Ask Me Anything About Art, Love AndMoney

    I Wanted To Be An Artist But All I Got WasThis Lousy Career (Ok, I stole that one from Nate Lowman)

    How I Stopped Worrying And Learned ToLove Art World Capitalism

    Why Art School Is A Ponzi Scheme

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    BUT FIRST, A DETOUR THAT I REALLY

    WAS COMPLETELY REDUNDANT.

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    Dave Schr

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    WE ARE ALL AWESOME. SO WHY DO

    THE WORD BROGRAMMER EVEN E

    The tech, design and startup worlds are full of smartpeople.

    Sadly, this apparently does not preclude the persistenceof discrimination based on gender, race or sexualpreference.

    Diversity is an agreed-upon universal goal, but simplyagreeing does not make it so.

    By the way, I am not implying that the Eyeo audience is racist or sexist. Im justsaying stupid shit does go on.

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    Geek Femhttp://ge

    http://geekfeminism.wikia.com/http://geekfeminism.wikia.com/http://geekfeminism.wikia.com/http://geekfeminism.wikia.com/
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    Geek Femhttp://ge

    http://geekfeminism.wikia.com/http://geekfeminism.wikia.com/http://geekfeminism.wikia.com/http://geekfeminism.wikia.com/
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    Moritz Stefaner:

    http://moritz.stefaner.eu/projects/gender-balance/http://moritz.stefaner.eu/projects/gender-balance/
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    Syreeta McFadden: Teaching thecamera to see my skin

    http://www.buzzfeed.com/syreetamcfadden/teaching-the-camera-to-see-my-skinhttp://www.buzzfeed.com/syreetamcfadden/teaching-the-camera-to-see-my-skinhttp://www.buzzfeed.com/syreetamcfadden/teaching-the-camera-to-see-my-skinhttp://www.buzzfeed.com/syreetamcfadden/teaching-the-camera-to-see-my-skin
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    Syreeta McFadden: Teaching thecamera to see my skin

    http://www.buzzfeed.com/syreetamcfadden/teaching-the-camera-to-see-my-skinhttp://www.buzzfeed.com/syreetamcfadden/teaching-the-camera-to-see-my-skinhttp://www.buzzfeed.com/syreetamcfadden/teaching-the-camera-to-see-my-skinhttp://www.buzzfeed.com/syreetamcfadden/teaching-the-camera-to-see-my-skin
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    Greg Dorsainville: DataFaces.net

    http://datafaces.net/http://datafaces.net/
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    Greg Dorsainville: DataFaces.net

    http://datafaces.net/http://datafaces.net/
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    Greg Dorsainville: DataFaces.net

    http://datafaces.net/http://datafaces.net/
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    CONCLUSION: BE NICE AND THINK.

    The tendency to expect those who are beingdiscriminated against to speak up tends to silence them.

    Worse, it creates further stereotypes (the silly Trekkiefanboy, the clingy boyfriend, the always-angry feminist)

    Acknowledging ones own bias is not admitting faultor guilt, its being honest. It also allows you to ask

    questions in other to learn from others.

    To quote a good friend of mine, you can be the best. Or the worst.

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    AND NOW BACK TO YOUR SCHEDULED

    PROGRAMMING.

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    IMPLICITLY SUBTITLED

    Things I Didnt Know About The Art World,But Really Wish Someone Had Told Me

    Ask Me Anything About Art, Love AndMoney

    I Wanted To Be An Artist But All I Got WasThis Lousy Career (Ok, I stole that one from Nate Lowman)

    How I Stopped Worrying And Learned ToLove Art World Capitalism

    Why Art School Is A Ponzi Scheme

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    DISCLAIMER: YOUR MILEAGE MIGH

    The following is a random mix of somewhat provablefacts and highly subjective opinions, framed aspolemical provocations in the tradition of the DevilsAdvocate.

    Depending on your own experience, you may find myanalysis to be nave, cynical or unreasonable. I can live

    with that.

    I apologize in advance if the following is overly didactic.Everyone has an opinion about art, yet the real-worldmechanisms of the art world are not widely understood.

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    HI, IM MARIUS AND IM AN ARTIST

    I never went to art school.

    I dropped out of Computer Science studies withoutearning a degree, making my bones in the world ofgraphic design and dotcom silliness.

    I decided to cross over and pursue art full-time

    somewhat late (age 30.) As a self-taught digital artistand ex-designer, I am a twice outsider.

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    My work

    http://mariuswatz.com/http://mariuswatz.com/
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    ART: THE BASICS

    First things first:

    Being an artist is a job, not a hobby. Not all artists makeart full-time, but that does not make them hobbyists.

    Art is a type of labor, artworks are commodities.As such, the production and dissemination of art isgoverned by the rules of the market it is created andsold in.

    Yet the vast majority of art consumers (i.e. layaudiences) are largely ignorant of the mechanics of theart world.

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    ART VS. DESIGN?

    The divide between art and design is more vague than

    ever, yet remains all too real.

    Utilitarian function is no longer a signifier of design.Design fiction? Design Art? Similarly: Social /discursive /relational art? Water wells in Africa as artproject? Embrace the weirdness.

    Nevertheless, mutual skepticism makes crossing overproblematic.

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    ART IS NOT DESIGN, IS NOT ART.

    Art is not design, and vice versa. This is not a question of

    relative value or even content, it is simply a question ofmarkets and context.

    Whether a project is art or design can no be determinedfrom its style, form or content. The only practicaldifferentiation is found by looking at which market a given

    project was created for, and what kind of discourse it isplaced within.

    Ps. Art is not implicitly better than design in any way, in many ways quite theopposite. So stop apologizing, already.

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    DEFINING ART

    A few conceivable, non-exclusive options:

    A practice of self-initiated creative expression, possiblybased on certain physical tools of production andmaterial constraints, or defined through non-materialmeans, such as conceptual, social, discursive andperformative devices

    A form of experiential research and knowledgeproduction, unrestricted by academic or scientificconventions, often dealing with irrational aspects of thehuman experience

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    DEFINING ART

    The production and trade of low-volume luxury goodsin a true gray market economy, valued according to

    artificially manipulated parameters (fame, scarcity,exclusive access)

    A social party game, played either for kicks (free booze)or keeps (social status)

    Art is anything sold in the art market(a personal favorite, origin sadly unknown)

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    HELLO, ART WORLD!

    The art world is a rigged game, played by ill-definedrules that benefit the very few. (That 1% idea again.)

    The art market is exponentially hierarchical, displayingan inverse long tail logic. Unless youre at the top, youhave little leverage.

    The hierarchy consists of a series of bottlenecks and

    taste makers: Curators, critics + art bloggers,gallerists, opening the doors to galleries, art fairs,museums, biennials.

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    HELLO, ART WORLD!

    Crucial concept: Scarcity.

    Applies to art objects as value indicator (sold as uniques,editions or multiples)

    Also applies to resources within the art world itself: Fromgrant-based funding to access to exhibition opportunities.(Consider the ever-diminshing ratio of artists to galleries,

    museums and collectors)

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    REALITY CHECK: ARTISTS

    Plentiful and eminently replaceable population, marked byrapid turn-over.

    Dismal 5-year survival rates. Most artists quit. Most art isnever collected.

    To be successful, artists must juggle making (preferablygreat) work, courting curators and gallerists, taking care

    of business.

    Artists must also diversify activities to provide multiplerevenue streams. Simple survival is often the order of theday.

    DIGITAL ART IN A CONTEMPORARY

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    DIGITAL ART IN A CONTEMPORARY

    ART WORLD

    Digital art is doing just awesome, thanks. But eventhough the quality of work is higher than ever, digitalart remains marginal from an art world perspective.

    Dedicated digital art galleries remain few in number,although some galleries include digital artists in their

    rosters.

    Digital work is rarely seen in fairs or at auctions, evenless so in biennials or museums.

    DIGITAL ART IN A CONTEMPORARY

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    DIGITAL ART IN A CONTEMPORARY

    ART WORLD

    Digital art often relies on a specialized vocabulary andtheoretical concepts, derived largely from technologicalconcerns. This is an alienating factor when digital artattempts to cross over into contemporary art.

    Domenico Quaranta (loose paraphrase): Digital art had

    a date wtih contemporary art, but showed up wearingthe wrong outfit.

    DIGITAL ART MYTHS

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    DIGITAL ART MYTHS

    Myth: There are no great works of digital art.

    Myth: Digital art is uncritical eye candy.

    Myth: Digital art cant be collected.

    Myth: Digital art is only concerned with novelty, and hasno history.

    DIGITAL ART MYTHS

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    DIGITAL ART MYTHS

    Myth: Digital art is concerned with technology itself.(False: Plenty of digital art deals with abstraction and

    code-based extensions of painting / drawing practices)

    Myth: Digital art is primarily screen-based.(False: Some of the most successful digital artworksemploy physical artifacts to overcome the computer /audience separation. Also: Digital fabrication.)

    LESS MONEY MO PROBLEMS

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    LESS MONEY, MO PROBLEMS

    Survival as a digital artist is a constant challenge.

    In Europe arts funding has historically enabled a vibrantscene based on a festival model. Festivals are not alwaysgreat art spaces, but do allow for large-scale projects.

    In the US, there are no festivals and little funding.Hence, digital art is rarely seen on a large scale.

    Consequence: Major brain drain from the art scene tothe creative coding / agency world.

    LESS MONEY MO PROBLEMS

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    LESS MONEY, MO PROBLEMS

    Given the difficulties digital artists face in accessing themainstream art market, alternative funding models are

    needed.

    Promising developments: Crowd-funding, online directsales. However: These come with their own challenges.

    However: Art world frowns on direct sales. Going back

    to a gallery model might not be possible.

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    CLOUDS Kickstarter

    https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1636630114/clouds-interactive-documentaryhttps://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1636630114/clouds-interactive-documentary
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    Nervous System shop

    http://n-e-r-v-o-u-s.com/shop/http://n-e-r-v-o-u-s.com/shop/
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    Nervous System shop

    http://n-e-r-v-o-u-s.com/shop/http://n-e-r-v-o-u-s.com/shop/
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    Adam Harvey: Privacy Gift Shophttp://privacygiftshop.com

    http://privacygiftshop.com/http://privacygiftshop.com/http://privacygiftshop.com/http://privacygiftshop.com/
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    Adam Harvey: Privacy Gift Shophttp://privacygiftshop.com

    http://privacygiftshop.com/http://privacygiftshop.com/http://privacygiftshop.com/http://privacygiftshop.com/
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    Paddle8.com (online auction house)Phillips de Pury subsidiary

    http://paddle8.com/http://paddle8.com/http://paddle8.com/http://paddle8.com/
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    s[edition]http://seditionart.com

    DIGITAL ART: BEST PRACTICES

    http://seditionart.com/http://seditionart.com/http://seditionart.com/http://seditionart.com/
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    DIGITAL ART: BEST PRACTICES

    In 2010 I co-curated the exhibition Abstrakt Abstrakt- The Systemized World with Eno Henze for the NODE

    Festival in Frankfurt.

    Shown at the Frankfurter Kunstverein, Abstraktabstrakt presented works that exemplify some of theunique forms that digital art can take - as well asoccasional commentary on the digital itself.

    In all (false) modesty, in my opinion this exhibitionrepresents a kind of best practices of digital art -mature works investigating new experiences related tocomputational logic, w/o the banality of novelty.

    Abstrakt Abstrakt - The Systemized World

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    Curators: Eno Henze, Marius WatzNODE10, Frankfurter Kunstverein

    Brandon Morse: Achilles

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    Ben Fry / Fathom - All Streets

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    Ben Fry / Fathom - All Streets

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    John Powers - Gods Comic (Fat Bastard)

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    John Powers - Gods Comic (Fat Bastard)

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    Ralf Baecker - The Conversation

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    Robert Hodgin - Sketches

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    SOFTlab - (n)arcissus

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    SOFTlab - (n)arcissus

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    Zimoun - 175 prepared DCmotors, filler wire 1.0 mm

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    ,

    Zimoun - 175 prepared DCmotors, filler wire 1.0 mm

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    THANK YOU FOR LISTENING!

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    Marius Watz is:

    [email protected]@mariuswatzhttp://mariuswatz.com

    http://www.generatorx.nohttp://workshop.evolutionzone.comhttp://flickr.com/photos/watz

    http://mariuswatz.com/http://www.generatorx.no/http://workshop.evolutionzone.com/http://flickr.com/photos/watz/http://flickr.com/photos/watz/http://workshop.evolutionzone.com/http://www.generatorx.no/http://mariuswatz.com/