Holding “ART WHORE” Up to Its Peers

by Whitney Kimball on November 12, 2014 · 13 comments Internet

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Following yesterday’s post “Ryder Ripps’s ‘ART WHORE’ In the Running for Most Offensive Project of 2014,” I wondered: who’s allowed to identify, even jokingly, as a whore? A successful New York artist doesn’t top the list, but meanwhile the word’s use in “ART WHORE” would effect the outside world about as much as rich people expressing sympathies for the poor. The two positions aren’t so far apart; an artist boldly implies that he’s getting fucked over by a one-night hotel residency, in which he only received $50 for art supplies– for most people, a wholly unrelatable complaint. Equally unsavory is the prospect of having an art world conversation about what kind of treatment sex workers deserve from us. In either case, outside the art world, both sides would probably fall on deaf ears.

For those who haven’t seen this yet—Ripps paid two “sex workers” to make drawings at a rate of $80 each for 45 minutes, which, in itself, isn’t so exploitative. It’s more that Ripps’s grievances are ridiculous when held up against people whom he’s pretty sure are getting fucked all day, a job to which few people I know aspire.

So yesterday, when a few commenters asked that we supplement the inflammatory outrage with more effective examples of art meeting labor, we thought this was a great idea. Several people supplied cases of artists using outsourced labor in thoughtful ways, demonstrating why “ART WHORE” falls short.

"The Warp" (Image courtesy of tylercoburn.com)

“The Warp” (Image courtesy of tylercoburn.com)

Tyler Coburn, “The Warp”

Commenters strunken white and Devin KKenny both pointed to Tyler Coburn’s “The Warp,” in which Coburn solicited workers through Amazon’s Mechanical Turk to make drawings for him. “The Turk” is framed as a marketplace of outsourced laborers who provide menial tasks, which computers can’t yet do, for pennies. Amazon takes the name from an 18th-century chess-playing robot (which was secretly operated by a human); Coburn asked Turkers to make drawings based on quotes about the robot. The project is still credited to Coburn, but the results are about the modes of work.

Virtual Assistance PowerPoint from Andrew Norman Wilson on Vimeo.

Andrew Norman Wilson, “Virtual Assistance”

In line with a canon established by filmmakers like Harun Farocki, and with his own well-known class-conscious works like “Workers Leaving the Googleplex,” Andrew Norman Wilson’s “Virtual Assistance” is a well-researched and long-term personal engagement with the global marketplace.

Wilson used the service Get Friday, which solicits “virtual personal assistants” (real people in India) to the First World. “If power’s defined as the ability to manipulate resources across space and time, to what extent can power in my relationship with [my assistant] Akhil and Get Friday be redistributed amongst a service where the normative use is one-way command?” Wilson asks. What follows is a year-long mutually-beneficial artmaking collaboration between Wilson and his assistant Akhil. Wilson gets Akhil to provide data for an art installation; Akhil gets Wilson to make him a video.

Andrew Salomone, "A Pizza For Sol" (image courtesy of Andrew Salomone)

Andrew Salomone, “A Pizza For Sol” (image courtesy of Andrew Salomone)

Andrew Solomone, “A Pizza For Sol” (for the “Redditor Art Show”)

Andrew Salomone ordered a pizza with the order “DRAW BALDING MAN W/ GLASSES” on it.

Of course, it’s not that simple; the piece blends the instructional drawing of Sol LeWitt and the Reddit phenomenon of getting creative in the “special instructions” field of your pizza order. Perhaps not the most powerful statement on art and labor, but at least, more of a spread-around Internet collaboration without the insensitivity.

Johannes Kreidler, “Fremdarbeit”

Over Twitter, Joseph Sannicandro pointed us to composer Johannes Kreidler’s 2009 “Fremdarbeit.” Kreidler was commissioned by Klangwerkstatt Berlin to compose a piece, and instead asked a low-paid worker in China to write a song imitating Kreidler’s style and a programmer in India to write an algorithm for the same purpose. According to Kreidler, he paid his workers a total of $150 and received 1,500€ for the commission. Kreidler benefitted from the work, but the project was intended to provoke conversations about labor relations networked around the world. Kreidler told Runway.org:

In Ljubljana at the International Computer Music Conference, after 5 minutes of the piece the Chinese delegation left the hall, leading to discussions all night long with the festival chief… in Chicago it also lead to a long discussion after the concert, which was a very good one, exchanging questions of shame in the U.S. and in Germany related to the specific histories of the countries. Interestingly, at the World New Music Days, which I thought was the best place to play the piece, the audience didn’t respond at all.

While the workers again remain largely absent from the conceptual direction of the piece, the work inspires some conversation about the relationship.

Advertisements for Myself from Theodore Darst on Vimeo.

Theodore Darst, “Advertisements for Myself”

Thanks to an anonymous commenter for pointing to this one. Theodore Darst hired several people from the Fiverr (a foreign Robert De Niro impersonator, a young man in a turban, a banana) to promote his website, and inform people that Darst is “globalizing video art production modes.” The case seems to cast Fiverr actors as court jesters who massage the king’s ego for a little cash– but in this case, everybody’s a king for thirty seconds. In one of the most compelling examples, a guy does pushups while stumbling over the words, over and over, “theodoredarst-dot-net, theodoredarst-dot-net, theodoredarst-dot-net…”

It’s a lighthearted piece, and while far less impactful than, say, Wilson’s (the result doesn’t tell us much more than what the premise does), the project is clearly not an ad for theodoredarst.net.

Fiverrs on thejogging

Sometimes thejogging posts Fiverr-based works. They’re basically promoting thejogging’s brand, but such is the task to which Fiverr assigned itself, and doing its job is all it’s meant to do.

Jan Brueghel the Elder, Diana and Actaeon, (1600) (Image courtesy of camgirlproject)

Jan Brueghel the Elder, Diana and Actaeon, (1600) (Image courtesy of camgirlproject)

Vanessa Omoregie, camgirlsproject

In a more balanced example, Vanessa Omoregie features camgirls willingly contributing their images to be collaged into classical nude paintings. In the words of Marina Galperina:

What is especially interesting here is Omoregie’s emphases on the agency, the consent, the fully participatory self-evaluation that is happening — all in a fun and aesthetically enjoyable context.

Andrea Fraser, “Untitled” 2003 (Image courtesy of Friedrich Petzel)

Andrea Fraser, “Untitled” 2003 (Image courtesy of Friedrich Petzel)

Andrea Fraser, “Untitled”

Paddy Johnson mentioned Andrea Fraser’s “Untitled” as a more effective version of “ART WHORE.” In a 2003 video, Fraser was paid $20,000 by an unnamed collector to have sex with her on camera (the commission was arranged by Friedrich Petzel). The terms of the word “whore” are fulfilled.

Laurel Nakadate, "I Want to be the One to Walk in the Sun" (2006) (Image courtesy of badatsports)

Laurel Nakadate, “I Want to be the One to Walk in the Sun” (2006) (Image courtesy of badatsports)

Laurel Nakadate, Craigslist encounters

What about when the Craigslist art solicitor is a woman, and her subjects are would-be clients?

Like Ripps, Laurel Nakadate sources her actors from Craigslist. Rather than seeking them for their services, though, Nakadate selects for predatory loneliness, seeking out older, often dumpy companionship-starved men from Craigslist as actors in her videos. It’s hard to watch these interactions, especially in an art museum, without feeling some sympathy for men who are being ordered to remove their clothes and confess their emotional baggage to the camera; it’s just as nerve-wracking to watch Nakadate jump around in a bikini, allowing them to touch, look, and take photos. In the “ART WHORE” footage, one doesn’t worry for Ripps.

No matter how closely the concepts parallel, or how equally the benefits are distributed, this simply can’t be lined up with “ART WHORE.” The power relationship is just different.

 

{ 13 comments }

Ryder Ripps November 12, 2014 at 6:36 pm

art FAG city

strunken white November 12, 2014 at 6:47 pm

unsurprising

Corinna Kirsch November 12, 2014 at 9:09 pm

And?

Nathan Bryce November 13, 2014 at 4:20 am

I am somewhat new to AFC. Can anybody tell me why it was called Art Fag City? Usually sites tell you about their name in the ‘about’ section, but not here. It seems a strange name and I sincerely want to know what was intended by it.

Corinna Kirsch November 14, 2014 at 12:24 pm

Fag = fan

Nathan Bryce November 17, 2014 at 3:16 am

I have never heard of ‘fag’ being used as a synonym for ‘fan’. I just Googled it and could find nothing to support this. Is this a regional thing?

Paddy Johnson November 17, 2014 at 7:39 am

Look at urban dictionary. It’s someone who is fully immersed in art culture. Often a young person/student.

Nathan Bryce November 17, 2014 at 3:28 pm

That’s a pretty rare understanding of ‘fag’. So, one person posts this ‘definition’ on UD and that makes it official and universal? How is your use of the term different from people using ‘gay’ to mean ‘lame’? How is it different from “Art N****r City” in it’s offensiveness. Why on earth would women use this term so blithely? I don’t think that when people are beating gay males and calling them “fags” that they mean to say that they are “fully immersed in art culture”. Like the “N word” this term can only be used ironically by the people it victimized. And now you call it “Art F City”, so you understand how offensive it is.

molly_x November 14, 2014 at 11:09 am
Paddy Johnson November 17, 2014 at 3:43 pm

The name isn’t used any differently than “Opera Queen”, but of course, if you take issue with the name, don’t read the blog. We changed our name because we were getting censored on Facebook. Facebook censors a lot of things that aren’t offensive—art picturing naked ladies for example.

Corinna Kirsch November 17, 2014 at 3:47 pm

Just wanted to add:
1) How do you know I’m not a gay woman? How do you know we’re not all gay women?
2) Nobody says you have to say “art fag,” but there are plenty of people not just on UD who use the term “art fag.” They do exist.
3) Most importantly, there’s no irony, no blitheness involved. We all seriously love art here. Hopefully you do, too.

Nathan Bryce November 17, 2014 at 4:18 pm

I never said you weren’t Lesbians, I guessed you were. I said you were ‘women’. Since when has ‘fag’ been used as a term for gay women? Can you imagine gay men starting an art blog called “Art Dyke City”, I mean it would be so stupid, as stupid as the name you chose. And ‘fag’ is not equivalent to ‘dyke’, ‘fag’ carries a violence that no slang for Lesbian carries. That’s why they call it “fag bashing”. There is no equivalent for Lesbians because they have not been targeted for violence in the way gay men have. If you are Lesbians then you have even less excuse for your ‘retarded’ name choice.

Paddy Johnson November 17, 2014 at 4:21 pm

And name calling gets commenters blocked. Bye-bye.

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