Pittsburgh
2008
Installation view at Goods and Services in Pittsburgh, PA
Created for Other Options, organized by InCUBATE:
What does it mean to say that something is valuable? If artistic production is valuable, how should the labor and the object be monetized? And if there is no object…? Have artists enabled or perpetuated the cycle of exploitation by being willing to work for nothing, or very little? Is it the responsibility of policy-makers to support artistic production and resurrect state funding for artists or is the artist as beholden to the market as any other producer? If these are two poles in a spectrum, what other possibilities exist? What are some solutions for addressing the problem of financial stability for cultural producers?
These are some of the motivating questions driving our recent work. We understand the need to advocate for funding but also recognize the urgency of acting in the world that we live in. There is fierce competition for the few unrestricted grants available to artists, so we have sought other means of funding. Additionally, our work has been process-/non-object-based and thus difficult or impossible to enter into the art market.
Related projects include the First Annual Experimental Putt-Putt, which was held at the Experimental Station in the spring of 07. This project was a hybrid form: a fundraiser, a mini-golf course, a re-use experiment, a community-gathering event, and an art show. We also work as brokers of used merchandise through a project called On-Site Services.
This project is our next attempt at creating a funding machine, a machine that supports its own existence. Play Material Exchange pinball (Four quarters for a ball) and bring a friend because it requires more than two hands. The machine is made of cast-off materials from previous projects and from the Creative Re-Use Warehouse in Chicago.
Pinball will be traveling with Other Options to Pittsburgh, Syracuse, New York City and Montreal
Created for Other Options, organized by InCUBATE:
What does it mean to say that something is valuable? If artistic production is valuable, how should the labor and the object be monetized? And if there is no object…? Have artists enabled or perpetuated the cycle of exploitation by being willing to work for nothing, or very little? Is it the responsibility of policy-makers to support artistic production and resurrect state funding for artists or is the artist as beholden to the market as any other producer? If these are two poles in a spectrum, what other possibilities exist? What are some solutions for addressing the problem of financial stability for cultural producers?
These are some of the motivating questions driving our recent work. We understand the need to advocate for funding but also recognize the urgency of acting in the world that we live in. There is fierce competition for the few unrestricted grants available to artists, so we have sought other means of funding. Additionally, our work has been process-/non-object-based and thus difficult or impossible to enter into the art market.
Related projects include the First Annual Experimental Putt-Putt, which was held at the Experimental Station in the spring of 07. This project was a hybrid form: a fundraiser, a mini-golf course, a re-use experiment, a community-gathering event, and an art show. We also work as brokers of used merchandise through a project called On-Site Services.
This project is our next attempt at creating a funding machine, a machine that supports its own existence. Play Material Exchange pinball (Four quarters for a ball) and bring a friend because it requires more than two hands. The machine is made of cast-off materials from previous projects and from the Creative Re-Use Warehouse in Chicago.
Pinball will be traveling with Other Options to Pittsburgh, Syracuse, New York City and Montreal
