Re: <nettime> what does monetary value indicate?

[Molly Hankwitz <mollyhankwitz@gmail.com>]

Hi Michael, 

Or, maybe, originality has been all along, a fictional history, and a signifier for fictional social relations in much art history, if only to justify value through “scarcity” (genius and originality are rare) or create its justification (there is only one original) and to obscure modes of artistic production not about “sole” authorship and individual creativity? Somewhere along the line, “originality” was seen to be a valuable asset in art making, taught, told, produced, encouraged, and then it died many deaths as a concept; as something to strive for or achieve or practice or expect? “Death of the author”, digital reproducibility, post-medium conditions, AI Art, all seemingly question or consider at least art without “originality”. 

We have replaced this expectation instead with collectivity, collaboration, stakeholders, or, much more importantly, maybe, the artist as an “original” interpreter of systems. So, I’m thinking that the new artist might be more akin to an economist who comprehends the communication of value or an artist who digs deeply into AI enough to transform it...originally. This appears to me by way of Paglen, Steryel, and others to be a trend. Artist as “administrative author” or initiator of a system, through which communities can act, somewhat recursively to establish value, and/or prosper via, for instance, a shared currency? 

(Fresh from MoneyLab events)

Molly 

On Sat, Mar 27, 2021 at 4:02 PM Michael Goldhaber <michael@goldhaber.org> wrote:

On Mar 27, 2021, at 1:27 PM, Molly Hankwitz <mollyhankwitz@gmail.com> wrote:

..how original is original when originality died long ago ? 

Yes, originality died with the second cave painting, but has been reborn many times since, even if only evident to new generations. Depending  on the fineness of your mesh, it is always relatively rare, and thus, with so many trying for it today, perhaps easily not seen. But I bet still around. 

Best,

Michael

--

molly hankwitz - she/her

http://bivoulab.org

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