[PD] life as a new media artist

[Alexandre Castonguay]

The question reminds me of : Letters to a Young Artist, a collection of 
essays modeled after Goethe's letter (another good read).  It has some 
insights from people like Adrian Piper,  William Pole L. and the 
Guerilla Girls.  The variables are alike between the artistic discipline 
(time, revenues, integrity) but there are a couple of important 
variations for media art. Nearly 80% of all art purchases are paintings 
so making a living may mean teaching or finding other employement within 
the field.  Another important distinction is gender. The media arts 
field, especially the more technical aspects of it, is dominated by 
males.  It can lead to a culture shock sometimes but I don't know 
whether gender has a positive or negative effect on gaining most of your 
revenues in the field.  Where you find your training is also a 
determinant and the answer to the question of survival as a media artist 
will depend on where you want to be based. Support for culture, public 
or private, varies so much from one state to another.  Be mindful of the 
tools, PD is one of the tools that will shape your practice the least. I 
like Natalie Jeremijenko's take on technology (not her exact words) : 
"artist's are good at making dumb things out of expensive technology and 
making smart things out of obsolete tech".

My advice would be to just work. Don't spend too much time networking 
and worrying about a career, if the work is not there, nothing will 
happen. Devote all your energies to it and if the sleep deprivation (and 
bills) catch up to you and the motivation isn't there any longer, then 
you can take all that you will have learned and find another path.  It 
should be easier than surviving as a media artist. I don't want to sound 
dire, I feel priviledged to be able to keep making art and it's amazing 
to be able to teach it.  What I mean to say is that if you need to be an 
artist then you will find a way to support your practice.

http://www.artonpaper.com/LTYA/

Good luck,

Alexandre





Adityo Pratomo a écrit :
> hahaha, gotta agree with this. I couldn't even stand sleeping for 4 hours a
> day for a week. because on the next week, i'll be sleeping 10 hours a day,
> hahaha...
>
> anyway, thank you for sharing your stories everybody :)
>
> On Tue, Nov 3, 2009 at 10:31 AM, Derek Holzer <derek at umatic.nl> wrote:
>
>   
>> Short term results = fantastic!
>> Long term results = detrimental to one's health...
>>
>> Just ask Jack Kerouac.
>>
>>
>> Jaime Oliver wrote:
>>
>>     
>>> make art with that time. Or you could try giving up sleeping. In the end,
>>>       
>>> the sleeping thing... doesn't work.
>>>
>>>       
>> --
>> ::: derek holzer ::: http://blog.myspace.com/macumbista :::
>> http://www.vimeo.com/macumbista :::
>> ---Oblique Strategy # 140:
>> "Reverse"
>>
>>
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