Artwork vs. The Work of Artists by Paige L

Artwork Vs. The work of artists

Re Imagining Creative Work

A book of collected ideas woven together by paige landesberg

2017 2

(a book of collected ideas woven together by paige landesberg) Chicago, IL

The terms that follow will all be used throughout the book. I've chosen to define these terms because different versions of them are used very frequently and their definitions are subjective and loose. This list of words does not represent true, singular definitions of the following terms, and the way I define these things can and should be problematized. Rather, these definitions should help bring clarity in a way that is helpful for understanding the conundrums and propositions I discuss throughout the book. 4

Art World The industry in which contemporary art (typically grounded in visual art) is bought and sold. Art World Institutions The venues and organizing structures for viewing artworks that support the Art World and often act as a middle man between artists and Art World patrons. Actual World This term is used throughout this book to refer to any people, places and industries that do not interact with the Art World. Literally speaking, the Art World is most definitely a part of the actual world. The ability to make this division is problematic but helpful in explaining some concepts, for lack of clearer terms. Cultural Products The output of artist work that is commoditized, typically art objects- like sculptures, for purchase, typically through Art World institutions. Creative work An intentionally loose term used to refer to the cultural and economic contributions that artists make to society, which is not limited to making cultural products.

Artist This book will use the term artist to refer specifically to people who have chosen to pursue a career producing creative work. Utilitarian use-value This term, similar to Marx's use-value, will be used to refer to how objects (Marx, 1867) and occurrences function in a literal way. For example, a cell phone's These two utilitarian usevalue is to make phone calls and send text messages. sometimes cross over

Symbolic use-value This term will be used to refer to how objects and occurrences point to other ideas outside of themselves. For example, the symbolic use-value of the latest iPhone model is to indicate a high level of economic access and social status. Economic use-value This term, similar to Marx's exchange-value, will be used to refer to the potential for something to be bought and sold. This use- value responds to the rules of the capitalist market and is isolated from the other two forms of use- value. For example, an iPhone has a higher economic use-value than a Nokia flip phone.

(Marx, 1867)

This book was made as the output of an un School of the Art Institute of Chicago. The was motivated by a requirement to create a knowledge base of this Art World institution

The emergence of this book was made pos institution's vast array of technical equipme resources. The cultural capital I have gaine institution has equipped me to become a c

The thesis project's only requirement for di product would live in the school's library co This means that only those who have know Art Institute of Chicago's Library have guar and other projects like it.

ndergraduate thesis study at the knowledge established from this project a cultural product that contributes to the n.

ssible due to my access to this Art World ent, economic and knowledge based ed from my ability to participate in this competitive professional in the Art World.

istribution was that one copy the final ollection without the ability to circulate. wledge of and access to the School of the ranteed access to viewing this project,

As an undergraduate student at a prestigious Art World institution, I am concerned with the overwhelming amount of art that is produced under the assumption that art galleries will provide space for these objects to flourish in; that Art World institutions will nurture our artist careers post-graduation. I am paralyzed in the face of attempting to make symbolic artworks, unable to subscribe to the illusion that galleries are the best venues to support my work, or that the general public values, or is even effected by what I do as an artist. I am alienated by the itchy question of art distribution; where, for whom, and to what end? In an art school of 3,500 artists, who is asking us: if the industry exploits us, or simply rejects our work- which they likely will at some point, how will we make our work visible and meaningful in the world? How do we collaborate to expand the field of art rather than compete to participate in its rigid, exclusive and circular conventions? What cultural work am I doing by producing this work; where will it live or be viewed beyond this institution?

Unlike other industries, the art industry has a title that implies it exists within its own world: The Art World; which supposes that it is separate from the actual world. This distinction exists due to an inherent favoring of ruling class within the Art World that prevents most people from interacting with and relating to the industry. In this book I'll talk about the motivations and structures within the Art World, and address how some artists are working to dissolve the division between the Art World and the communities and industries around it. In order to do this, we have to first break down - how and why artists work inside of Art World institutions in order to figure out - how and why creative work should exist more broadly in the actual world. This is a really big and complicated topic. There are numerous ways of looking at the current climate of artist's work, and this project won't attempt to address all of them. It will address some of the major conundrums of working in the Art World, and present some artist tactics for dealing with these constraints.

This book will be broken down into two parts.

Part

How and why the Art World

Part

Alternative models for creative work

breaking down what drives the Art World and why artists choose to work there

in order to understand what sustainable models are for artists working outside of the Art World

_Part starts here. How and why the Art World

Given the condition of contemporary art as an industry

- Where the artist's role is thought of as a maker of cultural products - Which engages in the buying and selling of cultural products - Which responds to the demands of the ruling class - Which creates circular discourses that rarely exit the field of art itself

This project makes a case for normalizing the artist's professional role outside of Art World institutions

while considering...

- Artists' dependence on Art World institutions for legitimization, visibility, and economic use-value - The impossibility and impracticality of abandoning the Art World altogether - The lack of economic support for creative work in communities and other industries - The conflicting values of people of different economic classes

In order to

- Consider artists as not only makers of cultural products to be sold in the Art World, but also as critical thinkers who offer tools for communication - Democratize creative thought and cultural resources - Contemplate how artists can sustainably engage in creative work outside of the Art World

With a desire to engage

- Artists and organizations who are already modeling, and thus normalizing this work and revealing connections between them - Practical applications and collaboration in the creative process as techniques for accessibility - The paradox of writing on this topic, within, and to fulfill the requirements of, an Art World institution

This work functions as a critique of critique itself.

It assumes the position of art critic Saul Ostrow in his essay, Modeling a Critical Practice (2015). He argues that representing existing politics, even through a critical lens, is an inevitable affirmation of those very politics.

(Borgonjon, 15)

Many artists choose to represent negative politics as a strategy to dismantle existing systems. Within this popular mode of critique, there is an inherent contradiction that prohibits them from moving beyond current systems.

By making artworks that critique a failing system, the artist duplicates it. Recreating or duplicating a failing system perpetuates it, rather than changes it. 26 As an example, the critical feminist photographer, Cindy Sherman, made a few photo series of white women fulfilling their expected societal roles, such as in the photo, Film Still #6 from 1978. In this photo Sherman depicts a white woman in her under garments and a satin robe gazing into the distance. It portrays the woman acting as a sexual object, void of thought. It's almost certain that Sherman was aware of these controversies and intended to include them as a strategy to generate discussion and critique of this very phenomena.

Film Still #6 Untitled Series Cindy Sherman (1977-89)

Although Shermanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s political intentions are pro-women, by virtue of putting more images into the world that portray women as thoughtless and well- shaped white bodies, she effectively perpetuates the existence of women as sexual objects by redistributing the very image of that condition which she does wants to critique.

(Koolhaas, 969)

As a reaction to this dilemma, this book aims to exist as a proposition, rather than a critique. It shares an ethos with architect Rem Koolhaas’s call for a “new newness”. In his book, S,M,L,XL he writes on how “we have surrendered to the aesthetics of chaos – ‘our’ chaos.” This observation refers to the inescapability of current societal systems under which we operate, and the paralyzing nature of our aesthetic reactions to such systems. Koolhaas's desire for a new newness requires the makers of cities to become completely uncritical and irresponsible, diving in the deep end of experimentation with new systems, abandoning older systems entirely.

This is a proposition for a new newness; improved circumstances not yet imagined, where artists are the strategizers, designers, theorizers and communicators. This requires establishing the role of the contemporary artist as flexible, not bound to the the Art World and its historical conventions. This book will consider more comprehensive methods of circulating creative work and incorporating artists into society, with consideration of economic class. 29

Let's get started. But first...

What do we mean by

â&#x20AC;&#x153;The Art Worldâ&#x20AC;? is a western term referring to the capitalist market in which visual artworks are bought and sold. Museums, galleries, critics, and investors drive this industry.

The Art World, and thus the art produced within it, is driven by the profitable demands of the ruling classthe wealthiest people- since they are the buyers, owners and funders. In other words, the art made with the intent of being sold within the art world responds to issues that the elite are concerned with.

The term Art World is not a generalization about art in the whole world, and does not imply anything about how art functions in contexts outside of industry.

In the US, visual artists are taught that the Art World is where their work belongs. It is the compartment of society where artists make money and share the fruits of their labor. Thus, art schools facilitate a natural transition from art education to Art World practices.

How do we encounter visual art in

The moment of encounter describes the instance when a cultural product, or, art object, is seen by a viewer; an experience which often happens inside of Art World institutions. Despite the fact that the moment of encounter for one work of art often lasts only a few seconds, this moment is fetishized as a climax of value and meaning. 32 This is the moment many artists work toward while creating, and shapes how a piece is interpreted. It is the instance where the artist most closely interacts with the public, and has a big role in shaping the perception of what artists do. Caroline Woolard spoke about this at a lecture given at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2017, saying, for example, that if the period of construction of an artwork were as significant as encounter, then graduate art students would be given mini wood shops or tool kits, as opposed to a studio space that simulates white wall institutions. The obsession with encounter is an over- valuation of one part of a multi- faceted creative process: viewing cultural products. Art historian Rosalind Krauss writes in her essay titled, The Cultural Logic of the Late Capitalist Museum (1990) about how the museum environment operates on viewers more than artwork itself. Viewers are confronted with an elation of the space that replaces the ability to connect with the content of the artwork.

Encountering a work of art in a major museum or established gallery indicates inherent value due to its presence in such institutions. The endorsement from well-regarded Art World institutions creates the illusion that an artwork is objectively important, symbolic, and relevant to all viewers. When you see an Andy Warhol artwork at the MoMa, for instance, you know it's important, regardless of your personal interpretation, by virtue of how many Art World institutions represent his work. Some artists have used literalism as a tactic for unpacking the moment of encounter, such as Joseph Kosuth. Kosuth often uses text to tell the viewer literally what they were looking at, such as in this piece, Glass Words Material Described from 1965.

drawing of Glass, Words, Material, Described 1965

Here, the objects literally reduce themselves to what they are without metaphor. Unlike much art before it, this work is not a representation at all; it is exactly the thing it says it is. It claims to be utilitarian as opposed to symbolic by portraying itself as an everyday functional object.

34 At the same time, Kosuth's work points to its own inherent symbolic or metaphorical value by virtue of its existence within Art World institutions. Since we view these objects in a gallery, we know they are not just pieces of glass, but a symbol with an important message. We can also assume that this message will be uncontraversial to the institution's funders. Kosuthâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s objects are viewed as an artwork due to their gallery context, as opposed to, for instance, if one sees pieces of glass sitting against a fence on a sidewalk. In the gallery space, the viewer is situated to see functional, utilitarian objects living outside of utility, and affirming the objectives of the Art World. It may be impossible to ask a viewer to accept an object in an Art World institution as serving a utilitarian purpose, like a telephone or a chair, without having extreme symbolic and monetary value. Therefore, Art World institutions can be thought of as places that prioritize symbolic use- value over utilitarian, where it is impossible to reduce anything to being literally what it is (like in Kosuthâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s case, words on glass material).

35 The moment of encounter is determinedly classist, regardless of what the object of encounter is. The symbolic framing of artworks within Art World institutions hierarchizes historic and financial narratives of those who pay for it. Since most Art World institutions are funded by large corporations and/or individual donors, the institution situates its artwork to be in line with their value systems, so that they feel represented and continue to give money. A perfect example of this is the New Contemporary exhibition at The Art Institute of Chicago, which opened in 2015 and represents Edlis and Neeson's donation of their estimated $400 million art collection. The collection includes (The Chicago numerous artworks of Warhol, Jasper Johns, Jeff Koons, and other big name Tribune, artists who are exhibited on repeat at every major art museum in the country. Johnson) The donation came with strings attached: the couple would only donate the works if the museum agreed to exhibit the entire collection of artworks for the next fifty years. This is not uncommon to request, and the museum agreed. Now the contemporary exhibition at the most popular museum in Chicago will be stocked with the same twenty-odd artists (many white male painters) that have been represented over the past fifty years, for the next fifty years; per the request of their most generous donors.

Art World institutions and those who financially uphold them play the role of determining what is meaningful for public viewership, and what isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t; which gives them control over deciding what works become absorbed into the discourse and archive of art history. Without these designated institutional spaces, objects dissolve into the actual, mundane every day, and experiences are left to become unexceptional time passed.

There are not many platforms that make contemporary creative work approachable for people of all classes. highly recommended reading!

As Ben Davis writes in his book, 9.5 Theses on Art and Class (2013), the Art World is an elite industry; those without resources and a high level of education are often excluded from its activities. As a result, many people of middle and lower economic class do not value the Art World and art spaces. They are neither informed nor invited as participants.

Art World institutions are beginning to have conversations on how to open up the Art World's practices to become more inclusive to a diverse range of people. This is a worthy question and should be explored through and through.

However, in addition to pulling middle and lower class people in to the Art World, it is equally important to push resources and artists out of the Art World. What makes this challenging is that not only does the Art World withhold resources, but there is a decline in funds that were once available for elite institutions. This is likely to get even worse since the National Endowment of the Art is facing possible defunding from the US government. Thus, it has become increasingly difficult for the Art World to widely distribute resources, leaving artists with less options.

While Art World institutions are spaces for public display, economic use is central to their practices. Art World institutions distinguish art from being a subjective, human expression, to being a commodity in the market of capitalist production. In their current state, Art World institutions exist in isolation from middle and working class communities, which is largely a result of their historical and financially capitalist biases. Artists therefore respond to the economically useful demands for artwork, for their own financial benefit, and to cater to the ruling class individuals and corporate sponsors of Art World institutions.

In the face of this industry, which sells cultural products to elite patrons through Art World institutions, artists may feel that they have to categorically decide who their work is for: the people in the Art World or the actual world. If they choose to work for the actual world, they forfeit their own visibility in the Art World, thus forfeiting their spot in the discursive, historic archive, and their legitimacy as a professional artist.

since their work wont be represented in Art World institutions

since no one is documenting and contextualizing it with relation to other artworks

but it still IS also a tool for expression and communication! And it has inherent value beyond the three use-values. Which can't be forgotten!

but artists do not have to categorically choose between the Art World and the actual world; they CAN work in both worlds. Later on I'll give examples of that

39 Artists who make work without any attachment to institutions take on less glamorous titles, such as community organizers, political activists, or on the other end of the spectrum, craftsmen or art hobbyists. If one does not make work that advertises within institutions, they lose the title of artist, which implies a career that is (in one way or another) linked to contemporary art industry.

*Ironically, however, most artists who strive for institutional success are either elite themselves, end up enduring labor and financial exploitation, and are treated as under-valued surrogates for expensive objects by said institutions.

The result of this conundrum is that most visual artists choose to identify with the Art World first, and the actual world second. Particularly for those artists who received higher art education, the artist assumes a comfortable, well represented role within the institutions that uphold their work as inherently meaningful, historic, and expensive. The Art World institution thus serves as a vessel for symbolic and economic use-value, where utilitarian value is considered lesser. The perceived value of artworks is largely due to their high economic value, or, expensive price tags within Art World institutions. This price tag is how the public viewer can verify that what they are looking at has 40 symbolic value greater than what the object literally is. One knows that Kosuth’s Glass Words Material Described is clearly “about” something more than exactly what it is; otherwise it wouldn’t be in a gallery, and it wouldn’t be worth somewhere between $450,000- $1.4 million- what most of his 1960s artworks sell for. (Artnet) And while Art World institutions are the sites that indicate a high price tag, it is ultimately the viewer who perpetuates the imagined value of artworks. Institutions, particularly art galleries, curate the moment of encounter to indicate that cultural products are profound, and part of that is an expensive price tag; but ultimately, a viewer’s willingness to pay for entry, or for purchase of an artwork, is what perpetuates the cycle of highly fetishized art objects in institutions. Viewers perpetuate a belief in, and therefore a demand for expensive artworks, and as is true for any other profitable capitalist commodity, where there is profitable demand, there is supply. If the viewer did not fall under the illusions that the institutions set up, there would be disagreement with the exorbitant monetary value of everyday objects in the gallery. There would be no demand, and prices would have to drop. However, the viewer’s subscription to the price tag of institutionalized art works is rooted in the common practice of assigning value to commercial goods, and cannot solely be attributed to the manipulation that Art World institutions perform.

(Artnet, December 2016)

Throughout this book, we demystify the moment of encounter by discussing work that values symbolic use-value and utilitarian use-value equally. In the Art World, the symbolic realm is heavily employed as a reaction to elite Art World patron's cultural practices, which are narrow, exclusive and merely profitable. However, this is not to say that the actual world is void of symbolic value, and visa versa. Symbolic value is tacit in everything, regardless of its status as a luxury good. At the same time, one could take the position that expensive artwork has the utilitarian (Davis, use-value "to serve as financial instrument or tradable 28) 43 repository of value." However, breaking down art's forms of function into these categories allows us to talk about the nature with which it operates, where, and for whom. By removing formal institutional frameworks and considering every step of the creative process, from conception of idea all the way to circulation of work, the role of a viewer is transformed to that of a participant. The work becomes situated in real space with new utilitarian use-value, as opposed to the gallery space, a setting designed for symbolic use-value. I aim for the work in this book to consider its role as a cultural product, and how it relies on institutions for status and visibility as such, and conversely, its potential to have utilitarian use-value outside of the Art World.

As long as the ruling class is willing to pay exorbinantly high prices to support contemporary art in its institutions, the prices to participate will probably not go down, and art will continue to be an industry controlled by the ruling class.

Without abandoning the art industry complex, which offers great benefits to artists in the forms of

Artists need to re-enter the industries, communities, and cities outside of the Art World in order to reimagine the scope of creative work by finding and creating 45

for doing so.

....No, I don't mean resort fully to social practice artwork and/or alternative art spaces. While these spaces are also interesting for a variety of reasons, this project attempts to shift the focus away from art that ultimately ends up back in spaces that cater to an Art-World-literate audience.

Easier said than done.

This is because outside of the Art World, there is little money poured into consistent jobs for creative work. Artists are categorically understood to be people who make art objects. Since art objects are not thought to have utilitarian value, art is often considered a luxury good. The public perception of an artist's role is arbitrarily limited to being 46 makers of luxury goods, and so the existing positions and platforms for creative work are limited. There are opportunities for one-time projects, but few options for stable work beyond isolated commissions. We are not accustomed to working with artists in non-arts industries over long time frames, in scenarios without a singular art project. For this reason, people who do not have access to or relate to the Art World may find it difficult to envision interacting with artists professionally.

Artists' task is to expand world views, which is not always measurable.

It is frequently overlooked that visual artists are not only trained in craft and technique in order to make cultural products, but are also seasoned critical and creative thinkers. In this respect, artists and the creative work they offer challenges the public to consider new ways of approaching the nuanced world around us- and this creative power can be distributed in many different ways.

Because the nature of creative work is so embedded in symbolic use-value, it is difficult to qualify as a necessity for all people. The perspective and knowledge base that artists bring is nuanced and impossible to truly to define. Asn a capitalist society whose value system is rooted in efficiency, measurability and rationalism as the means to profit, it is an uphill battle to convince governments, individuals, and companies to fund long term, highly subjective projects that have no immediately measurable profitability or benefit for its participants.

(Lukacs, 85-91)

Although the Art World is insular, It is inevitable that the Art World interacts with other industries in some capacity, because of the interconnectedess of contemporary life. The Art World relies on a lot of exterior structures that often aren't accredited as part of the Art World because they don't interact directly with the patrons.

(Throsby, 1-34)

David Throsby points out in his book, The Economics of Cultural Policy, 2010, that visual artists' work is dependent upon fabricators, different kinds of material suppliers, art handlers, and others who may not participate in the direct exchange of artwork. It is typical for one industry to draw resources from other industries in this way and these kinds of relationships can be economically beneficial.

However, the Art World often capitalizes on these forms of low-wage labor industries in order to cater to its own internal needs without justly compensating and acknowledging those workers as equal laborers in the Art World. The cultural capital and resources of the Art World are not 50 extended within these interactions.

it does interact with other industries.

There's also a current trend of artists working outside of the Art World in other areas of the culture industry or creative class. Creative class is a term coined by Richard Florida in his book, The Rise of the Creative Class (2002) to refer to creative economy; the production of material and immaterial cultural goods and services in the fields of advertising, architecture, design, video games, fashion, TV, radio, film, music, publishing, software, and IT. Collaborations in these industries tend to brand contemporary artists as pop culture figures. One artist famous for this is Takashi Murakami, a Japanese artist who collaborates with high end fashion designers such as Marc Jacobs and Louis Vuitton as well as pop celebrities like Kanye West and Pharrell Williams. One could argue that expanding art into other areas of the culture industry like this is a form of making creative work more accessible and available to a general public. The opposite could also be argued: that these types of collaboration diminish creative work, turning artists into reactionary and elite profit driven businessmen. This book will not focus on artists such as Murakami, who have become masters of commerce and pop culture, but rather, will examine artists whose values are socially driven rather than profit driven.

The role of the visual artist in contemporary Western society is continually evolving. Contemporary artists benefit from the widely accepted mentality that the definition of art is always expanding. The industry, and eventually the public become open to abnormal, avante-garde events under the legitimizing umbrella of art. In an era of the interdisciplinary workforce, where we see the emergence of fields such as Behavorial Economics and Architectural Sustainability, different professional practices converge in order to address the interconnectedness of society. When two or more fields come together they gain the ability to address more structural issues. There is no reason that artists should be isolated from this interconnectedness. If we can expand the way artists relate to other 52 fields and types of people, the identity of the artist will mean more than maker of cultural products, but contributors to systemic change. The Embedded Artist Project is one example of artists working in this way. Through a collaboration between the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and the City of Chicago, the program "embeds" contemporary (Embed- artists in city government with the goal of bringing "new perspectives, ded Artist mindsets, and processes to develop and execute projects that have a Project) lasting impact on the future of Chicago." One of their projects lead by the artist Frances Whitehead, called Slow Cleanup, uses low cost solar energy techniques (phytoremediation) to repurpose abandoned gas stations throughout Chicago. Whether or not this project is considered an artwork is not of crucial importance to Whitehead, but her role as an artist within the project is unique. In an interview with Claudine Ise of Art 21 Magazine from 2010, she says, "Artists are modeling new potential roles, without any certainty [...] I believe that even when I do design, or landscape, or sustainability, or city planning, I do it differently than the people who were trained to do that, because I have a different knowledge, a different habitas than them. I'm redirecting art practice and it is a critical redirection, but critique is not the end in itself."

Rather than making art objects about social justice issues to display in art spaces

let's create opportunities for artists to collaborate with the people and places effected by these issues.

Rather than creating more varieties of art spaces for artists to bring the world's concerns into

let's reconsider the potential for art to interact with people in the places and platforms they already value.

Thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s no debate that contemporary artists are doing crucial cultural work- and that there is plenty more work to be done; but the idea that the scale of an artistâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s work is necessarily dependent on what they can accomplish in one studio with a handful of invisible assistants is outdated and just not true. No matter how brilliant or hard working a person is, they are but one person with a small amount of tools and knowledge in a culture dominated by global social and economic structures. When artists step outside of traditional arts-centered projects and work in different fields and communities, the scale of impact their creative work can take on grows. Through this shift, artists are able to teach a critical approach to thinking about the world for all people, not just those who value the arts as a field.

This requires creating platforms for collaboration. It also requires stepping back. Since art is not only a cultural product sold in an industry, but also an expressive tool for communication and thought, engaging other disciplines and people requires asking questions, hearing needs, and responding accordingly in relative spaces. It also requires us to demand that Art World institutions, who hold the key to a wealth of resources, fund the dissemination of creative work into different sites and aspects of life.

_Part Alternative models & methods for artists to work in

(Caroline Woolard: About, December 2016)

Caroline Woolard believes in the idea that â&#x20AC;&#x153;artist practices make interdisciplinary models for economic justice possibleâ&#x20AC;?. In this sense, she poses that artists are designers of economic systems. She breaks her practice up into two categories:

Projects

Which are cultural products such as art objects and texts

Systems

Which are platforms for creative circulation of art and resources

Like this work dress she made, available for barter only

(The Work Dress, Woolard 2007-2013)

Which are more symbolic, and thus are compatible with Art World contexts

She created international bartering networks through her projects, OurGoods. com and Trade School

(OurGoods, Woolard 2008-2016)

Which are more utilitarian, and thus fit in to a broader range of contexts

Woolard's work functions both literally, with utilitarian applications, and symbolically. Since the projects she makes exist in conjunction with systems for circulation, they are able to circulate outside of the Art World, and therefore reach more people. Because the combination of projects and systems has the potential to be looked at symbolically, but also with utility by considering practical applications, they can exist in many different contexts. Let's look at her body of work around housing as an example. Woolard created a project titled, Shaker Residence in 2008 during an artist residency. It is a plywood structure and accompanying performance that honors the history of Shakers, or, communitarians. This project is heavily symbolic; it is not truly practical as a residence, and, like many art objects, exists as a metaphor to discuss the ideology of what it represents. It was created and exhibited through the MacDowell Colony, an arts organization. The context in which this project was made, and the potential life cycle it will live, is particular to that of the Art World. 60

drawing of Shaker Residence, 2008

However, since creating Shaker Residence, Woolard has also co-founded the NYC Real Estate Investment Cooperative. This system takes the same conceptual concerns represented in the Shaker Housing project and circulates them more broadly, with an applied utilitarian use-value. By collaborating with attornies, architects, activists and economists, Woolard's work achieves a greater scale of interaction and becomes available to a broader scope of individuals across economic classes, not just people who value art objects. On their webiste, the NYC Real Estate Investment Coop defines themselves as "a group of over 400 New Yorkers who are pooling their money and power to secure space for community, small business, and cultural use in NYC. Consistent with the principles and spirit of the cooperative movement, NYC REIC makes long-term, stabilizing, and transformative investments for the mutual benefit of our member-owners and our community... Since our first member meeting in May 2015, we have attained a membership of 350 people, banked over $3,000 at the Brooklyn Cooperative Federal Credit Union, received pledges of over $1.3 Million for future investments, and elected a governing body. By 2017, we aim to finance at least one permanently affordable commercial property. Our goal is to make long-term, stabilizing, and transformative investments for the mutual benefit of our member-owners and our communities." The NYC Real Estate Investment Coop takes on a literal, functional value outside of the Art World that many people are involved with and positively affected by. However, in the grand scheme of things it is still a small initiative. In this sense, its use-value is still symbolic, functioning as

Ultimately, Woolardâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s practice as a whole has strong ties to the Art World, regardless of whether or not it lives in a gallery, because she is very embedded in the industry. Many of the organizations funding her work, and the institutions where she teaches are all part of the exclusive Art World circle. She gained access to these resources through attending Cooper Union, a famously exclusive art school in New York that previously granted all undergraduate students free admission. By maintaining her professional ties to contemporary art and Art World institutions, she is able to maintain a sustainable practice for herself professionally as an artist, but also one that shifts resources into under-accommodated contexts for circulation, and therefore, other communities and demographics.

In her Career Narrative, which is attached to her website, Woolard calls out support she's received from all of the following Art World institutions: 62

Creative Time the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) the Whitney Museum the Brooklyn Museum the Museum of Art and Design the Cleveland Museum of Art the National Endowment for the Arts PBS/Art21 the New Museum the Municipal Art Society Cooper Hewitt the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) Rhode Island School of Design Artnet the Queens museum Macdowell Colony the School of Visual Arts the New School

Woolard also calls out a bunch of institutional support from industries and communities outside of the Art World, such as:

the Rockefeller Cultural Innovation Fund Eyebeam the Center for an Urban Future the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs CRAINS business magazine Rudolf Steiner RSF Social Finance grant MIT Press Schumacher Center for a New Economics Platform Cooperativism committee on democratic software WIRED Lower Manhattan Cultural Council Judson Church

By gaining support from the Art World to make creative work in the actual world, Woolard - expands the scope and distribution of the Art Worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s resources.

By also recruiting support from exterior industries, Woolard - creates contexts for creative work in society that respond to the concerns of the general public. By connecting the values and support of Art World and actual world industries, Woolard - challenges people in the Art World and in the actual world to reconsider the role and site of artists in society.

the next few pages will breeze over a few more noteworthy examples of artists and organizations collaborating with others to democratize creative work, and then focus on a second longer case study.

65 65

(Tania Bruguera, February 2017)

(George Maciunas Foundation, February 2017)

68 68

(Eyebeam/ About, February 2017)

(Half Letter Press, February 2017)

(NYC Department of Cultural Affairs, January 2017)

(Fritz Haeg, April 2017)

CAPE is a public and privately funded organisation that partners Chicago Public School Teachers in grades K-12 with contemporary artists in order to co-design curricula in public schools.

They partner with contemporary artists

72 to work with a demographic that isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t well catered to creatively

It provides a platform for artists to engage outside of the Art World with the goal of incorporating creative work into an actual world setting: public schools. I was able to learn about how CAPE works from their Education Director, Scott Sikkema, who has been with the organization for over a decade.

CAPE's collaborative partnerships between artists and public school teachers are meant to be long term, with one year being the shortest length. The parameters for the collaboration and its outcome are not predetermined, which gives the all participants, students, teachers, and artists the agency to design their own forms of arts integration. Rather than going into a school with a pre-designed agenda, CAPE teachers and artists have the freedom to teach a way of thinking, looking and asking questions rather than just a set of hard skills. Sikkema explained that there are several existing programs that are outcome oriented, such as woodworking, where the artists and teachers explain how to complete the task, and the students demonstrate the practice and go away with a hard skillset and specific outcome. These types of programs are often valued for their measurable outcomes and practical applications. While those practices have high utilitarian use-value, they sometimes neglect to appreciate the artists' role as a critical questioner and continue to narrowly imagine the artists' role as a craftsman or object-maker. The role that artists play as critical thinkers has greater symbolic use-value than utilitarian, and therefore the artist's role in the classroom is only valued as extra-curricular or a non-essential element of public education. Putting artists back into the actual world pushes artists to consider how their work could be utilitarian as opposed to leaning on the permitted symbolic value that is favored by Art World institutions and its upper-class patrons, and at the same time, it challenges people in the actual world, like public educators and school systems, to embrace the intangible, symbolic outcomes of collective creative thought. While it is popular practice to engage communities outside of the Art World and shed light on them or grant them visibility inside of the Art World, this is not what CAPE does. CAPE draws artists from inside of the Art World and pulls them outside and back into non- arts spaces, as a means to more widely distribute the cultural capital and creative knowledge set that comes from creative work.

(BFAMFAPhD, February 2017)

One strategy that Woolard and CAPE both employ in order to break the cycle of inaccessible, insular knowledge in the Art World, is making the creative process visible in their work. By doing this, they are able to combat the institutionalized moment of encounter and create a scenario where the audience is able to visualize and interpret projects with more of the facts and an informed sense of context. Engaging with art in museums and galleries can be polarizing because often times these experiences lack contextual information; as the moment of encounter works to make the creative process and industry trades invisible, the public lacks contextual information about the realities behind artists and Art World institutions. Demystifying how artists and the Art World operate creates an inclusive dialogue and invites people to approach conversations and form opinions about art. Woolard co-authored the book "Ten Leaps: A Lexicon For Art Education" with Susan Jahoda and Emilio Martinez Pope which embodies this idea, offering insight into how each part of the creative process could work, from the conception of an idea to the circulation of an artwork. This book uses simple language to explain the parameters for art making. Readers of this book begin to understand that nuances behind creative work and as a result are given more agency to participate and ask questions.

(CAPE Blog, January 2017)

In our interivew, Sikkema told me that CAPE’s ideology is based around “the notion of co-creation between teacher, artist and student through a research based approach. There aren’t a lot of projects like that that are external organizations, where a lot of the teachers and artists involved have multidisciplinary and research based practices, and there is a mutual struggling and vulnerability that occurs as a result of collective collaboration.” He explained that the primary audience for the project are the participants themselves: the artists, teachers, and students, who are all treated as equal collaborators and all step into these roles at various times. Collaboration is a crucial component of artists creating work in the actual world. In the 20th century, the Art World has perpetuated the notion that artists create work in their studio in total isolation, only to later send artworks out to be dealt with by administrators. This is perpetuated by individualistic values within capitalism. However, the scope of what can be achieved, and who has an opportunity to contribute is much greater when projects become collaborative. Artists break outside of this archetype by both claiming space in the actual world, like Caroline Woolard, or stepping into alternative platforms, like CAPE. Both of these models present an opportunity to collaborate with people who offer diverse knowledge and skill sets. A big part of what makes this possible is responding to the needs and values of others, and strategizing to create mutually beneficial projects for both artists and the public. As Sikkema mentions, this is not easy and requires vulnerability, but the potential outcomes can be more nuanced and empathetic than it would be working independently.

Sikkema also described how this type of creative work differs from what’s commonly known as social practice, and expressed skepticism toward social practice artists’ intentions. Social practice work often interacts with communities in the actual world, whether through an event or a project, and then brings the documentation of what occurred back into a gallery setting. Sikkema’s critique of this is that the artist remains in full control as the author and presenter of the product, and the project is ultimately to fulfill a secondary Art World audience, rather than the original participants who participated the event or project- “which is okay if you want to work in a gallery system; but in a school system it’s a crime.” In this sense he describes the artist using the community to generate a symbolic use-value that is in line with the commercially appealing Art World agenda, but that the community itself may not value. That said, Sikkema also talked about an event that CAPE held at Mana Contemporary this past November. Mana is a big, beautiful institution that has a large gallery space, artist studios, and various Art World 78 resources all in one building. At the show, participants were able to exhibit the products of their collaborative processes. This event was a huge success for CAPE because it made all of the participants feel as though they were part of something greater. Being incorporated into Art World institutions can provide a sense of validation or legitimization for those exhibiting work. But then one must beg the question: does this become social practice artwork by virtue of its being displayed in such a space? Sikkema would argue no, because the authorship remained collective and audience who attended the show were the participants themselves: the artists, teachers, students, and their families. It is worth noting the effect that Art World institutional spaces can have on exterior communities. They provide an air of established value and elevation. In this sense, the events purpose was to provide a space for legimitization, celebration, and reflection on the work done collectively.

The question of social practice comes down to a question of authorship. If an artist brings a project to a community and creates a participatory scenario, they have an option to name the project as collaborative and allow the community ownership over the work. However, if the artist chooses to claim the work as their own by exhibiting the project with their name as the author in Art World institutions, the project becomes situated as a cultural product in the Art World. For example, the New York City Real Estate Investment Coop that Woolard co-founded is not considered to be just her project. She does not gain more credit or recognition than the rest of the team of eight other leaders, and in fact, she has handed the project off so that it now can run completely independent of its original founders. This openness allows the project be sustainable and evolve in nuanced ways. It becomes shaped and accessed by a variety of participants. If Woolard had chosen to claim this project as her a part of her personal practice to be displayed in the Art World, the audience and beneficiaries would have become much smaller and limited to those within that small circle. Similarly, since CAPE does not name their participating artists as primary authors, and does not present their work as cultural products, the quality of their work doesn't entirely take the form of social practice. In general, it is collaborative work not intended to forward the Art World, rather, to forward public school curricula. However, their exhibition in an Art World institution complicates the question of whether or not this is social practice, and who the work is for. If the artists weren't the sole authors, and the products were not for sale, what was the purpose for the show at Mana Contemporary? Why bring this work back into the Art World context? Sikkema shared that this show was intended to empower and celebrate the participants in the program by giving them an established space to view their work. It is my prediction that CAPE may have also been trying to present their project as a cultural product for the purpose of promoting their work to an Art World audience for funding or recognition. This points back to the previously discussed benefits of engaging with Art World institutions, such as exposure, legitimacy and access to resources. CAPE proves to be a noteworthy example of artists working outside of the Art World. That said, none of the examples presented in this book are without contradictions. Unfortunately, CAPE artists are only granted fifteen hours a year of classroom time with students, which creates a lot of limitations for how much can be done. However, CAPE, as well as the work of Woolard and others, should be looked at as models that could be taken up by others for reconsidering what creative work looks like.

One way of defining artists is as people who make cultural products for purchase. These cultural products live within and are supported by Art World institutions like museums and galleries. The way they are framed to be encountered within institutions has high symbolic use-value and low utilitarian use-value, where cultural products function primarily as metaphors that stand in place for critical ideas. Because this industry costs money to participate in, and does not offer more practical applications, they are frequented most by the ruling class people. By replacing artists as creative workers in industries and communities outside of the Art World, we are able to reimagine the identity of the artist to become something with more impact. In order to achieve this, we need to re-examine 80 how symbolic use-value and utilitarian use-value operate in the Art World as well as the actual world.

I wrote this book in hopes to generate dialogue around the current and future state of creative work and how it's disseminated. I don't claim to have any answers, but I can provide examples of some ways artists and organizations are dealing with the conundrum of the Art World's insularity, and the lack of opportunities for creative work in the actual world. None of the examples or ideas presented should be taken as absolute truths or perfect success stories. Instead, they should be 81 thought of as models and strategies that could be taken up and altered by others. My own understanding of what artist work is, or can be, varies greatly from the assumed white-walled spaces that come to mind when we talk about artist work. This project has pushed me to confront the nuanced implications of being a working artist inside of the Art World as well as in the actual world. While I am critical of the Art World, I do not hold judgement or resentment against it and its workers. I appreciate the many benefits it offers artists, and as such do not believe the Art World should be abandoned. That said, I also do not believe that the Art World has to hold a monopoly over artists and creative work.

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Works Cited Borgonjon, David. The Visible Hand. New York: Cue Foundation, 2017. Print. "Reflexions on Arte Ă&#x161;til (Useful Art)." Tania Bruguera. N.p., Nov. 2012. Web. 6 Apr. 2017. Davis, Ben. Chapter 2. 9.5 Theses on Art and Class. Chicago, IL: Haymarket Books, 2013. 27-37. Print. Eyebeam. Eyebodega, n.d. Web. 10 Apr. 2017. Fisher, Mark, and Brett Bloom. TS: We Strive to Make Art & Publishing Practice That: (Manifesto). Chicago: Half Letter, 2016. Print.

Florida, Richard L. The Rise of the Creative Class: Revisted. New York: Basic, 2014. Print. Fraser, Andrea. "From the Critique of Institutions to the Institution of Critique." Artforum, September 2005. Grant, Daniel. "Artist Market: Joseph Kosuth." ARTnews. April 5, 2011. Accessed November 30, 2016. http://www.artnews. 86 com/2011/04/05/artist-market-joseph-kosuth/. "Edible Estates / about." Edible Estates. Fritz Haeg, n.d. Web. 10 Apr. 2017. Ise, Claudine. "Frances Whitehead, Embedded Artist." Art21 Magazine. N.p., 24 Aug. 2010. Web. 09 Apr. 2017. Jahoda, Susan, Caroline Woolard, Emilio Martinez, Agnes Szanyi, and Vicky Virgin. "BFAMFAPhD." BFAMFAPhD. N.p., n.d. Web. 09 Apr. 2017. Johnson, Steve. "Art Institute of Chicago Gets Its Largest Gift Ever, including 9 Warhols." Editorial. Chicago Tribune n.d.: n. pag. Chicagotribune.com. 22 Apr. 2015. Web. 09 Apr. 2017. Koolhaas, Rem, and Bruce Mau. "What Ever Happened To Urbanism?" S, M, L, XL. New York: Monacelli, 1998. 961-71. Print.

Krauss, Rosalind E. "The Cultural Logic of the Late Capitalist Museum." October. Vol. 54. Cambridge, MA: MIT, 1990. 14. Print. Lukács, György. History and Class Consciousness: Studies in Marxist Dialectics. Cambridge, MA: MIT, 1971. Print. Maciunas, George. "FLUXUS: MAGAZINES, MANIFESTOS, MULTUM IN PARVO." George Maciunas Foundation Inc. 13 Feb. 2013. Web. 10 Apr. 2017 Marx, Karl, and Rolf Hecker. Das Kapital. Berlin: Dietz, 1867. Print. Murakami, Takashi, Paul Schimmel, and Dick Hebdige. © Murakami. Los Angeles: Museum of Contemporary Art, 2007. Print. "Contact Us." New York Arts Practicum. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Jan. 2017. "Mierle Laderman Ukeles." NYC Department of Cultural Affairs- Percent for 87 Art. NYC Department of Cultural Affairs, n.d. Web. 10 Apr. 2017. "We Can Pool Our Money and Power." NYC Real Estate Investment Cooperative. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Apr. 2017. Ostrow, Saul. "Modeling a Critical Practice." Academia.edu. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Oct. 2016. Schimmel, Paul, and Dick Hebdige. Â© Murakami. Los Angeles: Museum of Contemporary Art, 2007. Print. Sikkema, Scott. "Introducing the CAPE Artist/Researcher." The CAPE Blog. Chicago Arts Partnership in Education, 06 Feb. 2017. Web. 10 Apr. 2017. Sikkema, Scott. Personal interview. 22 February 2016 "SolidarityNYC." SolidarityNYC. Sustainable Markets Foundation, n.d. Web. 09 Apr. 2017. Throsby, David. The Economics of Cultural Policy. N.p.: Cambridge UP, 2010. 1-34. Print. "Caroline Woolard." Caroline Woolard. N.p., n.d. Web. 04 Apr. 2017.

Acknowledgements Karen Morris author of Multifocal Nation: Ivoirian Political Culture in the United States and CĂ´te dâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Ivoire

Alex Valentine http://www.alexandervalentine.com/ John Stevens https://thebreakingshell.com/ Danny Shapiro https://www.homefunishing.com/ Alex Chitty http://www.alexchitty.com/

Learn more about the artist at https://paigelandesberg.net/