Artist Portrait No. 24: Reilly Smethurst (composer, Web III researcher)

This episode is a conversation with composer and Web III researcher Reilly Smethurst - who thinks the internet is just about the worst thing that happened to artists. Is it a pessimistic episode? I actually don't think so.

My take: The fact that the internet does not replace real-life communities and live gatherings around art, and hurts artists by creating global, algorithmically-moderated competition, is an empowering bit of knowledge which I hope inspires listeners to find ways to make art outside the internet and use the internet in smart ways to their advantage.

Reilly and I talk about the strange disbalance between the number of viable career paths for artists and the number of people studying creative disciplines, the absurdities of arts funding, the difference between the Dionysian and Apollonian approach to creating, artificial scarcity, how regulation may be the only answer to the excesses of the online arts market, and Reilly’s one actionable solution to the predicament posed by the internet, among other things.

All music in this episode by Reilly Smethurst:

Inheritance (2019)

Uterus (2016)

Organised (2019) Angel (2018)

During the interview, we mention the essay “Another Artworld” by Nika Dubrovsky and David Graeber. Here are some links:

My interview with Nika Dubrovsky: https://youtu.be/j9TyYRo0OQQ

Reacting to “Another Art World” Pt. 1: https://youtu.be/ufgK9PJszYY

Reacting to “Another Art World” Pt. 2: https://youtu.be/9QnxN425yyw

Timestamps (add 30 seconds to account for intro):

00:00 Intro

02:28 Arts careers on the decline but more people studying arts

08:32 The problem with electronic music and Reilly's "Apollonian reactionary phase"

20:00 Mocking the arts funding bodies

23:37 Web II and Web III - almost the same and both bad for artists + failures of Audius and OpenSea and the difference between music industry and art industry

40:57 Reilly's advice about how to face a world impacted by the internet

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