Capital A: Unauthorized Opinions on Money, Art & Everything Phil Rabovsky

How do you make a living as an artist when the big platforms price your work at zero? How do you get your big break when all the institutions that used to discover young artists have been decimated by the tech monopolies? In this episode, I talk to essayist and critic William Deresiewicz about his book, The Death of the Artist: How Creators Are Struggling to Survive in the Age of Billionaires and Big Tech.



BILL'S WEBSITE

billderesiewicz.com



WORKS CITED

-Deresiewicz, William. The Death of the Artist: How Creators Are Struggling to Survive in the Age of Billionaires and Big Tech. New York, New York: Henry Holt and Co., 2020.

-Khan, Lina M. “Amazon’s Antitrust Paradox.” The Yale Law Journal 126, no. 3 (January 2017). https://www.yalelawjournal.org/note/amazons-antitrust-paradox.

-Davis, Ben. 9.5 Theses on Art and Class. Chicago, Illinois: Haymarket Books, 2013.

-Graeber, David. Bullshit Jobs: A Theory. 1st edition. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2018.

-Deresiewicz, William. “Stages of Grief: What the Pandemic Has Done to the Arts.” Harper’s Magazine, May 12, 2021. https://harpers.org/archive/2021/06/stages-of-grief-what-the-pandemic-has-done-to-the-arts/.

-Lanier, Jaron. “Opinion | Jaron Lanier Fixes the Internet.” The New York Times, September 23, 2019, sec. Opinion. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/09/23/opinion/data-privacy-jaron-lanier.html.



MUSIC

-Theme music and consultation: Georgina Rossi, www.georginarossi.com

-Interlude: Alban Berg, 4 Stücke for clarinet and piano, Op.5; Carol McGonnell, clarinet; Steven Beck, piano



SPONSOR

Capital A is sponsored by Shoestring Press in Brooklyn: www.shoestringpressny.com




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In this conversation with Paris-based painter Thomas Agrinier, we discuss his dynamic figurative paintings—which mix a powerful classicism with contemporary textural and cartoon-like effects—as well as the experience of splitting your time between the computer and your body, and the need for optimism in life and politics.



WHERE TO SEE THOMAS’ WORK



-Instagram: @thomas.agrinier

-Website: www.thomasagrinier.com



MUSIC



-Theme music and consultation: Georgina Rossi, www.georginarossi.com

-Interlude: Ludwig van Beethoven, Symphony No. 6 “Pastoral”: IV. Allegro, II. Andante molto mosso



SPONSOR



Capital A is sponsored by Shoestring Press in Brooklyn: www.shoestringpressny.com


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On a recent walk to the Museo de Bellas Artes in protest-ravaged Santiago de Chile, I try to respond to all the work I see through the lens of this question: who does art speak to?



WORKS CITED

-Berger, John. “Revolutionary Undoing: On Max Raphael’s The Demands of Art.” In Landscapes: John Berger on Art, edited by Tom Overton, Reprint edition. London ; New York: Verso, 2018.

-Lescaze, Zoë. “An Artist Who Disavows the Possibility of Individual Agency.” The New York Times, November 12, 2021, sec. T Magazine. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/12/t-magazine/agnieszka-kurant-art.html.



MUSIC

-Theme music and consultation: Georgina Rossi, www.georginarossi.com

-Interlude: W.A. Mozart, Commendatore Scene from Don Giovanni



SPONSOR

Capital A is sponsored by Shoestring Press in Brooklyn: www.shoestringpressny.com


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Can art really create political change? What are the conditions that make this possible if and when it happens? What are the social ingredients that make for good art scenes? ...and what the hell was up with the DNC last year? In a sobering interview, Ben Davis, National Art Critic for ArtNet News and self-avowed Marxist, reminds us to be realistic about art's ability to change a world it is only one small part of—but also to rid ourselves of the expectation that in order to be good, art must change the world.



WHERE TO READ BEN'S WORK

-https://news.artnet.com/about/ben-davis-93

-Davis, Ben. 9.5 Theses on Art and Class. Chicago, Illinois: Haymarket Books, 2013.



WORKS CITED

-Mayer, Jane. Dark Money: The Hidden History of the Billionaires Behind the Rise of the Radical Right. Reprint edition. Anchor, 2017.

-Thompson, Nato. Seeing Power: Art and Activism in the Twenty-First Century. Brooklyn, NY: Melville House, 2014.

-Piketty, Thomas. Capital and Ideology. Translated by Arthur Goldhammer. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Belknap Press: An Imprint of Harvard University Press, 2020.

-Harney, Stefano, and Fred Moten. The Undercommons: Fugitive Planning & Black Study. 1st edition. Wivenhoe: Autonomedia, 2013.

-English, Darby. Art Historian Darby English on Why the New Black Renaissance Might Actually Represent a Step Backwards. Interview by Folasade Ologundudu, February 21, 2021. https://news.artnet.com/art-world/darby-english-1947080.

-Smucker, Jonathan. Hegemony How-To: A Roadmap for Radicals. AK Press, 2017.

-Davis, Ben. “Alice Neel’s Communism Is Essential to Her Art. You Can See It in the ‘Battlefield’ of Her Paintings, and Her Cruel Portrait of Her Son.” Artnet News, April 15, 2021. https://news.artnet.com/opinion/alice-neel-was-a-commie-a-battlefield-of-humanism-1958503.

-Althusser, Louis. For Marx. Translated by Ben Brewster. London ; New York: Verso, 2006.



MUSIC

-Theme music and consultation: Georgina Rossi, www.georginarossi.com

-Interlude: Béla Bartók, String Quartet No. 1 in A Minor



SPONSOR

Capital A is sponsored by Shoestring Press: www.shoestringpressny.com


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They receive about as much training as olympic athletes, and yet very few people have a sense of what life looks like for classical musicians today. This interview with Chilean-American violist Georgina Rossi covers a lot of ground: the nuts and bolts of a career in classical music, how society defines and compensates artistic labor, and simple things we as listeners can do to support the musicians that we love. Interwoven throughout the interview are excerpts from Georgina’s new album Mobili: Music for Viola and Piano from Chile. Enjoy!



WORKS CITED

Stone, Russell Dean. “‘He’s Got A Point, It’s Just That His Point Sucks’ – Artists React to Spotify CEO Saying They Need to Work Harder.” Vice, August 7, 2020. https://www.vice.com/en/article/5dzje3/daniel-ek-spotify-artists-pay-interview.

Wark, McKenzie. Capital Is Dead: Is This Something Worse? Verso, 2019.



MUSIC

Interlude 1: Rafael Díaz, Al fondo de mi distancia se asoma tu casa (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrWhxGd6TZNb-u1n7Yqjwmw)

Interlude 2: Carlos Botto, Fantasia

Interlude 3: Juan Orrego-Salas, Mobili

Interlude 4: David Cortes, Tololo (http://davidcortes.cl)

Interlude 5: Rafael Díaz, ¿Habrá alguien que en sus manos sostenga este caer?

All music from the album: Mobili: Music for Viola and Piano from Chile: https://www.newfocusrecordings.com/catalogue/georgina-isabel-rossi-mobili-music-for-viola-and-piano-from-chile/

Viola: Georgina Rossi (www.georginarossi.com)

Piano: Silvie Cheng (www.silviecheng.com)

Released by: New Focus Recordings (https://www.newfocusrecordings.com)

Recorded at: Oktaven audiO (http://www.oktavenaudio.com/)



WHERE TO HIRE CLASSICAL MUSICIANS

Hire Juilliard Performers (www.juilliard.edu/stage-beyond/hire-juilliard-performers)



WHERE TO STREAM MUSIC

Bandcamp (bandcamp.com)



A SELECTION OF MUSICIAN-LED COLLECTIVES & ENSEMBLES TO SUPPORT

ACRONYM (www.acronymensemble.com/albums)

American Composers Orchestra (americancomposers.org)

American Stories Podcast ‎(podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/american-stories/id1512423110)

Argus Quartet (fundraising.fracturedatlas.org/argus-quartet)

Cheng2Duo (https://www.cheng2duo.com)

Digital Camerata (digitalcamerata.org/#support)

Kettle Corn New Music (kettlecornnewmusic.com/support)

Music for Food (musicforfood.net)

New Focus Recordings (www.newfocusrecordings.com)

Oktaven AudiO (http://www.oktavenaudio.com/)

Project Music Heals Us (www.pmhu.org)

Shouthouse (www.shouthousemusic.com)

Switch Ensemble (www.switchensemble.com)

Tak Ensemble (www.takensemble.com)

Tenet Vocal Artists (https://tenet.nyc/support)

The Crossing (www.crossingchoir.org)

The Westerlies (www.westerliesmusic.com)

Ulysses Quartet (www.ulyssesquartet.com)

Versoi Ensemble (www.versoiensemble.org)

Not included in this list are dozens of regional orchestras and summer music festivals across the country. Look up your local symphony, chamber orchestra, or music festival, and make a point of buying tickets and attending concerts!


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As artists, we often despair about the efficacy of our work and its ability to advocate for change. Part of this has to do with the fact that the art gallery/museum circuit can feel like a bubble, where everyone largely agrees on the issues and advocacy of any kind feels like preaching to the choir. But the more I think about this problem, the more I've come to feel that this agreement is an illusion. This episode argues that taken as a whole, the audiences of art galleries and museums are some of the most powerful people in our society—precisely the people that need to be convinced that things need to change.

WORKS CITED

-Foster, Hal. What Comes After Farce. Illustrated Edition. London ; New York: Verso, 2020.

-Piketty, Thomas. Capital and Ideology. Translated by Arthur Goldhammer. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Belknap Press: An Imprint of Harvard University Press, 2020.

-Hodges, Betsy. “Opinion | As Mayor of Minneapolis, I Saw How White Liberals Block Change.” The New York Times, July 9, 2020, sec. Opinion. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/09/opinion/minneapolis-hodges-racism.html.

-Liscia, Valentina Di. “Brooklyn Museum Employees Accuse Administration of Staff Mistreatment.” Hyperallergic (blog), September 17, 2020. https://hyperallergic.com/588184/brooklyn-museum-staff-open-letter/.

-Badiou, Alain. “Concerning the Dominant Ideologies of the Contemporary World.” UCLA Program in Experimental Critical Theory, December 1, 2015. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74u2_Fg-UHo.

-Östlund, Ruben. The Square. Comedy, Drama. Plattform Produktion,  Film i Väst,  Essential Filmproduktion GmbH, 2017.

MUSIC

-Theme music and consultation: Georgina Rossi, www.georginarossi.com

-Interlude: Johann Sebastian Bach, Harpsichord Concerto No. 5 in F Minor - II. Largo


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