"Art has long been about manufacturing narratives and creating just the right context" - Noah Horowitz in an opinion piece about a 4-year-old artist Aelita Andre in the New York Times
"A new exhibit entitled "Store Buyout: The Art of Convenience," [...] started with artist Kyle MacDonald and his crew entering the West Village's Hercules Fancy Grocery with a briefcase full of cash. They inform the man behind the counter that they want everything -- to his astonishment -- as in all of the products available for purchase.
Also, I wanted to note that I bought Franco et al's art because I want to promote the benefits of bigger brands sponsoring new media artists and social media art (or Internet projects). My patronage is funding Franco's project but it is equally a sponsorship; it is a marketing tool to publicize my own projects. Sponsoring a social media art project allows a brand or individual to attach their name to a project wherever it appears online, co-create, gain agency and credibility in the social media sphere and share in the buzz, audience, and cultural impact of a work.
Instead of creating superficial crowdsourced social media campaigns, I believe brands should be investing in brand appropriate projects or web content that new media artists are launching independently. Their patronage will assist the artists, but also function as elegant and innovative social media ready advertising for the brand. Through sponsorship, Social Media Art is a social means to a marketing end.
Aimee
P.S. When Todd Plesco bought my soul for $100.00 via Craigslist, he was doing the same thing as I did for Franco.
"A new exhibit entitled "Store Buyout: The Art of Convenience," [...] started with artist Kyle MacDonald and his crew entering the West Village's Hercules Fancy Grocery with a briefcase full of cash. They inform the man behind the counter that they want everything -- to his astonishment -- as in all of the products available for purchase.
There's a website where the public can get in on the Warhol-style commerce vibe, purchasing something like a pack of Orbit gum, put in a display case and renamed "Temptations of a Chronic Masticator." [...] and it costs $69 ;)
The scam (or is it?) is easier to stomach if you watch the video..." - Joe Coscarelli in The Village Voice.It's been several days since I bought "Non-Visible Art" from Praxis Art and James Franco for $10 000. Some may call it a scam, but I call it patronage of Social Media Art.
Franco's "Non-Visible Art," enabled by the social media funding platform Kickstarter, embodies what I think can be termed "The Social Media Art Movement". The Social Media Art Movement is the use of new media to create and launch projects online, produce traditional and social media buzz, and establish cultural and economic value, principally by entertaining the public with a novel idea or narrative.
Franco's "Non-Visible Art," enabled by the social media funding platform Kickstarter, embodies what I think can be termed "The Social Media Art Movement". The Social Media Art Movement is the use of new media to create and launch projects online, produce traditional and social media buzz, and establish cultural and economic value, principally by entertaining the public with a novel idea or narrative.
By turning the purchase of Hercules' Fancy Grocery into a public performance broadcast online, Kyle MacDonald and his team (a group of artists who are all noted for launching other Internet projects) transformed the items in Hurcules' store into cultural artifacts worthy of acknowledgement and further monetization by the art market. Noah Horowitz explains this process in his piece about the 4-year-old artist, Aelita Andre, "[the] art world that has accepted, reluctantly or not, elephant dung (Chris Ofili), urine (Andy Warhol, Andres Serrano) and sheer nothingness (Yves Klein) as art has done so principally out of an appreciation for the artist’s agency: typically, what the artist has to say about society, and how this is materialized through the art." New media is the medium many contemporary artists are using to enact culturally significant performances on the social media stage.
Instead of creating superficial crowdsourced social media campaigns, I believe brands should be investing in brand appropriate projects or web content that new media artists are launching independently. Their patronage will assist the artists, but also function as elegant and innovative social media ready advertising for the brand. Through sponsorship, Social Media Art is a social means to a marketing end.
Aimee
P.S. When Todd Plesco bought my soul for $100.00 via Craigslist, he was doing the same thing as I did for Franco.
Holy christ this is the most inane bullshit i've ever seen. I hate art now because of you.
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, conceptual pieces like this have been done since the 1960s, and doing them now on Kickstarter doesn't make them any fresher. Ask Yoko Ono how this shit is done.
ReplyDeleteSeriously, you just wasted 10,000 dollars, you should have paid Franco in conceptual currency.
@Anonymous1 Please elaborate. @Anonymous2 How long have landscapes been painted for? How many centuries has sculpture existed? Also, the involvement of new media is a significant development since Yoko Ono's piece or the conceptual work of the 1960s.
ReplyDeleteThere are those who will never get it, Aimee. Don't waste your time and emergy trying to get their approval or understanding; it can't be done.
ReplyDeleteI get it and think you are glorious.
I understand James Franco's intention as well.
Great idea to sell your soul on craigslist!
Keep on keepin' on.
Peace.
This is funny. It seems to be an identical project to one done by a fellow RISD Digital Media graduate student that Franco knew about called Bachmann's online. The certificates are even the same. Fame wins again!
ReplyDelete"I am a talented, marginal actor/model who needs more work, stat!"
ReplyDelete"Sponsoring a social media art project allows a brand or individual to attach their name to a project wherever it appears online, co-create, gain agency and credibility in the social media sphere and share in the buzz, audience, and cultural impact of a work."
AKA: "I am talentless and unoriginal. I am buying my way into the art world by selling out as fast as I can."
@CAKE How is making a purchase selling out? lol
ReplyDeleteBlah, blah, @CAKE.
ReplyDeleteSell out. Make more.
Obvi.
XO,
Josef.
The difference between this and Yves Klein's similar (but better-conceived) project is that Franco's project falls into the trap it's supposedly trying to sidestep.
ReplyDeleteSomeone above me said that you should've just paid James & Co. in conceptual currency. I have to agree with them. Concept is not my favorite medium, but I appreciate Klein's sale of his studio because he turned the transaction into the work. Not just by saying "oh look, selling my studio is an artistic act," but because of his awareness of art's relationship to commodity. He realized that selling nothing wasn't going to fly; in order for it to "count" - in order for the consumer to get the same payback he would normally get from a physical art object - he turned the sale into an elaborate ritual. Moreover, it was a ritual that ended with the destruction of the receipt. He took the "immaterial" aspect of his project to its limit, until there was literally nothing left.
Unfortunately, you're getting nothing for something in this case. If he wanted to "make a statement" about the "immaterial nature of art" and all that, fine - though he would've saved himself some time and swollen ego had he bothered to read up on art history. But if this is supposed to be about the potential not-object-ness of art, why in the world would you use a phrase like “[w]e exchange ideas and dreams as currency in the New Economy”? The whole point of conceptual art is getting as far away from currency/commodity as possible. And if this project is supposed to place the creation of the work in the imagination of the individual, why should I be told what to imagine? The project isn't as open-ended as it claims to be, and it gets caught in its own trap.
But above all, I don't see what this piece has to do with "social media art". It doesn't speak to the essential nature of the relationships fostered by internet commerce. But it is, as you admit, all about personality. At least we can agree on that!
I really wanted to buy Installation by Praxis as with this heat I figured the thought of a room of Jello on my naked skin was very cooling. But at the moment the $150 I do not have. I hate to admit it but I did find a knock off import for only $19. I know this is not a good thing to do as it does not support the artist directly but the copy is so good I don't think anyone will know that it is not an original. And I will give the real artist the credit. I mean, really, in a room filled with blocks of red jello it is hard to tell what is real and what is not. Darn though by doing this I will miss the after party!
ReplyDeleteThis is utter nonsense. Examples like this areexactly why so many people believe art is garbage.
ReplyDeleteI'm an artist myself n this is a complete scam by rather unimaginative people, no matter what they or their supporters purport to believe.
Can I ask why the self described "talented actor/model..." Aimee is so proud of her $10000 piece of conceptual art here..n then a few pages on we see she's actually trying to offload it to a "sponsor" for a grand price of $100000.. Surely if she believed in the movement so much shed want to keep the work herself? And not immediately try to onsell for a massive 900% profit?...
Youve given me a thought though..im gona make myself a label up on my pc. Real nice n fancy looking text and all, describing the new Ferrari California and hang it in my garage. Man... Il increase my paper wealth by a half mill instantly! Ka Ching!
@Marke I'm not trying to "offload my piece to a sponsor", I'm trying to find a principal sponsor for the entire touring museum, which will be performed worldwide. MONA is also launching a social network for other artists to sell non-visible works. I will not retain the $100 000... that is going to the museum and its founders. I will retain a commission.
ReplyDeletePlease when addressing someone, try and use correct spelling. Im marke. Aesthetics are important to some artists. I'm sure u can imagine such a concept.
ReplyDeleteWith your response youre kinda reinforcing the fact you don't necessarily like or even want the supposed artwork. You have just said u have a financial interest in the whole touring museum, and its success. it's merely a tool. It's just another job for your very talented self.
@marke Oh for the love of e.e. cummings, marke! LOLOL!
ReplyDeleteI do like the artwork and it inspired me to identify the Social Media Art movement. However, I am also a commercial artist. I work in entertainment and content production to create, but also to make money. I am not ashamed to pursue compensation for my relentless hard work, nor am I ashamed to price my work or the work of others.
I am also unapologetic about my talents. Why put myself down when the entire world is more than willing to invent my shortcomings?
My $10 000 purchase was an essential part of my artistic development and I have no regrets.
You're very right. Your purchase was very essential to you then going on to identify the Social Media Art movement, and in turn make some coin outta it for yourself. I must applaud you.
ReplyDeleteWith the blowing your own horn bit, I don't know u so I cant be relied upon too heavily here I gotta admit..but in my experience people who really are talented or inspiring, generally don't need to tell others of this fact...
Ps... I have a conceptual warehouse for rent..perfect for your exhibition..
ReplyDeleteIt's rather unique as can be transported very easily so u could use the one venue throughout your entire world tour.
It's not cheap I must warn u.. But hit me up if you're interested
@marke You need to go make some art, marke. Your negative energy is better spent creatively than trying to shoot another fellow artist down.
ReplyDelete"make some art" words of a true art theorist, not practitioner.
ReplyDeleteGo sell your soul for 100 bucks again genius.
Update: I just released my own non-visible item for sale based on my purchase: "Vial of Fresh Air" - http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/praxis/museum-of-non-visible-art-praxis-and-james-franco/posts
ReplyDeleteAfter reading this, I have to say, I am feeling quite a bit better about my non-visible art purchase. I thought I had been suckered out of $100. You were suckered out of $10,000. No, you suckered yourself out of $10,000. Hah! Coming across this has been the most entertaining aspect of my purchase. Funny stuff.
ReplyDeletewww.areageneric.com
@Renee I was not suckered into anything. Had I not purchased the piece, you never would have encountered my blog or become familiar with my name. I funded the project, which has only just begun, and bought some social media marketing for myself. A portion of this post also made it onto the Etsy blog: http://www.etsy.com/blog/en/2011/the-art-of-convenience/.
ReplyDeleteOne is only a sucker if one's ill fate is caused by the malice of others. I don't feel taken advantage of and I chose my destiny. Sorry you don't feel the same way.
Always one...
ReplyDelete