[iDC] truth, beauty, freedom and money

[Michael Naimark]

Regarding art and support, a few years ago I directed a research project on
³technology-based art and the dynamics of sustainability² for Leonardo
journal with a grant from the Rockefeller Foundation. This isn¹t what I
usually do but I just came out of 8 years of support as an artist in a
research lab (Interval) preceded by a dozen years as a sometimes struggling
but strictly independent media artist. I spent a year traveling and
listening, and proposed a new model. [ http://www.artslab.net ]
> 
What I found was that there are 5 different, sometimes overlapping, means by
which tech-based artists and related institutions survive financially:
- they can sell their art directly to collectors (large and small), museums,
or other public space venues;
- they can rely on not-for-profit government or foundation grants;
- they can sell PR sponsorship (³eyeballs²) to advertisers;
- they can license IP (copyrights or patents) generally to corporations;
- they can keep their art financially off-grid by having a ³day job.²

I¹ve now had a chance to poll audiences in art/tech venues on their personal
preferences, i.e., which means are most ideal and which are most
objectionable, four times (Linz, NYC, SF, Banff), each with audiences of
50-150. Each time, for each of the 10 questions, at least one person raised
their hand.

So for every artist unwilling to sell their work, there¹s another unwilling
to live off grants. And for every artist teaching or being a sysadmin by
choice, another is seeking sponsorship from Hermes or placing Google ads on
their blog. And for every artist tackling research problems who refuse to
engage with Sony, Intel, or Siemens (which might be spending millions on the
same problem and getting nowhere), another is embracing Creative Commons and
Science Commons as acceptable ways for dealing with IP.

Do any of these means of support produce better art? Search as I might, I
haven¹t found any. 

Cheers,

-M
http://www.naimark.net
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mailman.thing.net/pipermail/idc/attachments/20070408/f527dc48/attachment.htm