‘A work of art is the unique result of a unique temperament.’ -Oscar Wilde
Let me start this post by saying that I don’t really consider myself an artist. Although much of my work has artistic value in terms of aesthetic impact and presents critique through reflection on experience, it’s not really my day job. That said, people often pay me for photography and video work. People also ask me to talk about making it for money and charity, like below at the London Vue Cinema in Front of 450 people a few months ago which, I guess, makes me a ‘professional’ on some level.
Charity causes aside, there is a growing trend to treat professionals like us as if we don’t need to make a living. There is an assumption that we make art in our free time, ‘for the love’, or that until you have work in the Tate, you don’t deserve to get paid. This is a fucked up mentality – it’s like saying everyone at a company other than the CEO should be an intern (imagine the board of directors collectively jizzing over that notion!).
I recently got an email from a property developer (and a Facebook message, and a LinkedIn message, and a Twitter DM) asking me if I want to display my photos on a massive 16×22 foot media wall in Philadelphia. I wrote back with my template response for requests like this (usually about three a week), basically saying, ‘Sounds cool, what is the budget for art work and how much of it will I get for participating?’
He responded, ‘Your work is to be showcased live on the Media Wall in the Courtyard at Commerce Square. There are no fees associated with the Media Wall. We showcase both local and international artists and organizations in an effort to promote the arts’. Which basically says nothing and offers me less. Without a response from me in 24 hours, he then sent me a contract to sign.
I looked up their ‘effort to promote the arts’. It’s part a $25 million redevelopment deal in Philly. I can only come to two (non-exclusive) conclusions at this point:
1. This guy thinks I’m a total fucking idiot.
2. This guy thinks my work is worth nothing.
I am not trying to pick on Commerce Square man in particular. I’m sure he also works for ‘credit’, which he uses to pay his rent and his loan on his BMW. However, his assumption(s) led me to an important question: Why are artists supposed to work for ‘credit’ while ‘developers’ or ‘event managers’ cash in on the cultural buzz artistic installations produce?
While I’d like to think this is a problem with ‘corporate types’ not being able to quantify the value of art and therefore not understanding that making art requires just as much effort, energy, time and money as their job, I think this is actually a more deep-seated problem in regard to the way capitalist society values the arts and social sciences. We all know this is the case, it’s the reason some parents railroad their kids into professions they aren’t suited for (and hate) to increase the social standing of the family (and make good on their financial investment). It’s the reason why someone who makes a useless app to log your ‘online social media influence’ or something makes more money than a researcher risking their lives to show us what it’s like to be a prostitute working the streets each night.
When I had trouble finding a job after my PhD, a close family member told me ‘maybe you should have thought about that before undertaking a PhD in geography’, as if I could have just flipped a switch in my brain and become an engineer (and therefore had economic worth). My girlfriend Lucy Sparrow, who makes a fine living as a professional artist on top of working full time, is constantly asked when she is going to ‘settle down and get a real job’. This is frustrating since she usually works twice the hours they do and creates a hell of a lot more happiness in the world than most people working at ‘proper’ jobs.
While we are not likely to change perceptions of our value in society overnight as artists, social researchers and provocateurs, there is one thing we can do right now. Tell these people, who work for a salary at a for-profit business, to politely fuck off when they ask you to work for free. Putting artwork in a friend’s business is one thing, but if someone is making money off your work you should get some of it, bottom line. That includes arts festivals and galleries run by artists charging at the door. It does not matter where you are in you career – if your art was worthless, they would not have emailed you in the first place!
For more on art, the marketplace and ‘selling out’, watch this incredible talk by Amanda Fucking Palmer: