exit_strategies_and_a_stand_alone_complex

the post-1973 period must be under- that productive labour was fleeing the stood not as the manifestation of a post- US for the global south and being re- historical futurity but rather as evidence placed by casualized, precarious forms of capitalism’s tendency towards crisis. of administrative and service labour. The language of ‘investing in the future’, in Annie McClanahan (2013): Investing in the turn, corresponded to a kind of ‘tempo- Future, Journal of Cultural Economy, 6:1, pp. ral fix’ enabled by financialization. Given 78-93 // keywords: future, crisis the extent of economic volatility, profit- ability had to be located in a just-barely Ronald Reagan’s 1988 description of the deferred tomorrow. ‘new economy’: In the new economy, human invention increasingly makes Annie McClanahan (2013): Investing in the physical resources obsolete. We’re break- Future, Journal of Cultural Economy, 6:1, pp. ing through the material conditions of 78-93 // keywords: narrativity, immaterial, lan- existence to a world where man creates guage, future his own destiny. The abbreviated, abstract temporality Annie McClanahan (2013): Investing in the of the derivative - a literal ‘investment Future, Journal of Cultural Economy, 6:1, pp. in the future’ - appears as the abolition 78-93 // keywords: immaterial of alienation, and money is now able to separate itself both from the production Faith in Greenspan’s ‘virtuous cycle’ process and from the material existence depended on believing that these eco- of the commodity nomic omens did not, contrary to all ex- isting economic history, herald looming Annie McClanahan (2013): Investing in the Fu- trouble. ture, Journal of Cultural Economy, 6:1, pp. 78- 93 // keywords: narrativity, derivative, immaterial Annie McClanahan (2013): Investing in the Future, Journal of Cultural Economy, 6:1, pp. the derivative - like the discourse of de- 78-93 // keywords: narrativity ferral that emerges alongside it - is the perfect instance of what Chris Nealon In a 1987 speech, for instance, Reagan has described as the ‘messianism’ of con- suggested that ‘Those who are investing temporary economics, in which ‘more in the future of our economy are worried and more intellectual energy is spent that some roadblock may be put in the on theorizing the future, until the pres- way of that future’. Describing selfregu- ent comes to look insignificant except as lating markets as self-sustaining produc- [the futures’] prefiguration ers of value, Reagan implies that capital- ists invest not in the market but in the Annie McClanahan (2013): Investing in the future itself. Future, Journal of Cultural Economy, 6:1, pp. 78-93 // keywords: narrativity, language future, Annie McClanahan (2013): Investing in the Fu- prescriptive, derivative ture, Journal of Cultural Economy, 6:1, pp. 78- 93 // keywords: narrativity, language, future Facing a volatile financial sector increas- ingly dependent on asset bubbles and It allowed late-capitalist rhetoric to deny debt - and a US working class dependent 201

on unsustainably easy credit - the rheto- 78-93 // keywords: future, narrativity ric of investing in the future imagined a form of value dependent not on the eco- Alan Greenspan, then Chairman of the nomic production of the present but on Federal Reserve, would describe the ‘vir- the abstract potentiality of the future. tuous cycle’ of economic growth in ex- plicitly Fukuyamian terms, noting that Annie McClanahan (2013): Investing in the Fu- ‘it is possible that we have moved ‘‘be- ture, Journal of Cultural Economy, 6:1, pp. 78- yond history’’ 93 // keywords: narrativity, debt, language future Annie McClanahan (2013): Investing in the In their own end-of-history moment, Future, Journal of Cultural Economy, 6:1, pp. Hardt and Negri likewise suggest that 78-93 // keywords: future limits to production no longer exist: ‘immaterial property . . . such as an The temporality imagined by the dis- idea or an image or a form of commu- course of ‘investing in the future’ mirrors nication, is infinitely reproducible . . . the temporality of financial instruments Many[resources], particularly the new- themselves, particularly derivatives. De- est elements of the economy, do not op- rivatives have been described by Robin erate on a logic of scarcity’ Blackburn as both the most character- istic and the most ‘temporalized’ of all Annie McClanahan (2013): Investing in the financial instruments ! they monetize Future, Journal of Cultural Economy, 6:1, pp. time by separating it from the object (or 78-93 // keywords: immaterial, distribution asset) with which it is associated “Understanding the particular terms Annie McClanahan (2013): Investing in the Fu- and logics of this ideology - particularly ture, Journal of Cultural Economy, 6:1, pp. 78- understanding the ways in which it re- 93 // keywords: future, derivative, immaterial narrated deindustrialization as a ‘new economy’ and financialization as a sys- Because the value of commodities is no tem in which belief could magically pro- longer driven by productive labour but duce its own rewards ! shows us the way rather by the ‘intensity of desire’, the la- in which our fictions of history increas- bour theory of value is, for them, inad- ingly diverge from material historical equate to the forms of value that charac- facts. terize late capitalism Annie McClanahan (2013): Investing in the Annie McClanahan (2013): Investing in the Future, Journal of Cultural Economy, 6:1, pp. Future, Journal of Cultural Economy, 6:1, pp. 78-93 // keywords: narrativity 78-93 // keywords: narrativity For both Reagan and Fukuyama, the a new form of labour has emerged: a past ceases to limit the future and ‘in- labour that is immaterial, affective, cre- vention’, rather than the debased realm ative, and decidedly ‘post-industrial’. of physical production, enables a new ‘abundance’ of value creation. Annie McClanahan (2013): Investing in the Future, Journal of Cultural Economy, 6:1, pp. Annie McClanahan (2013): Investing in the 78-93 // keywords: immaterial Future, Journal of Cultural Economy, 6:1, pp. 202

By accepting the symptomatic discourse 78-93 // keywords: distribution, future of ‘dematerialization’, both post-struc- turalist theories of immaterial labour To describe where investors were putting and ideological encomiums to the ‘end surplus capital as ‘the future’ has a cer- of history’ reimagine US de-industrial- tain truth, since FIRE investments are a ization as the salutary transition to a new form of what Peter Gowan (1999) calls mode of production. ‘money-dealing money’: investments in anticipated future profits or capital Annie McClanahan (2013): Investing in the gains, and in various forms of specula- Future, Journal of Cultural Economy, 6:1, pp. tive risk-hedging and risk exploiting. 78-93 // keywords: immaterial, transition Annie McClanahan (2013): Investing in the “in leftist theories of the ‘post-capitalist’ Future, Journal of Cultural Economy, 6:1, pp. nature of ‘peer-to-peer creativity’: here 78-93 // keywords: future too, we see the end of scarcity and of class-struggle, as a ‘revolutionary’ new As Gopal Balakrishnan puts it, in the mode of value production does not con- late-twentieth century ‘capitalism’s cul- test but rather adopts the labour struc- ture became an organized semblance tures of a new cognitive workforce. of world-historic dynamism concealing and counteracting a secular deceleration Annie McClanahan (2013): Investing in the in ‘‘the real economy’’. This false dyna- Future, Journal of Cultural Economy, 6:1, pp. mism! the ostensible innovations pos- 78-93 // keywords: immaterial, distribution, sible in the new immaterial economy ! transition seemed liberated from the material con- ditions of the past. Key to these arguments is the assertion that value itself is now ‘linguistic’: draw- Annie McClanahan (2013): Investing in the Fu- ing on Saussure’s homology between the ture, Journal of Cultural Economy, 6:1, pp. 78- differential logic of price and the dif- 93 // keywords: distribution, acceleration ferential logic of sign systems, scholars like Jean-Joseph Goux describe a new In the end-of-history ideology of the ‘regime of value’ that is, like language, new economy, technological develop- ‘arbitrary, differential and aleatory’ ment creates endless and abundant value by drawing on human creativity with- Annie McClanahan (2013): Investing in the out requiring human labour. For those Future, Journal of Cultural Economy, 6:1, pp. investing in the future of a speculative 78-93 // keywords: narrativity, distribution, in- economy, the creativity belongs to the determinacy market itself, which appears to fulfil its own hopes, to magically produce its own In his economic forecast, likewise, he ( imagined future. Fukuyama) anticipates the emergence of a ‘technologically driven capitalism’ that Annie McClanahan (2013): Investing in the Fu- is ultimately ‘free of internal contradic- ture, Journal of Cultural Economy, 6:1, pp. 78- tions’. 93 // keywords: narrativity, immaterial, future Annie McClanahan (2013): Investing in the Future, Journal of Cultural Economy, 6:1, pp. 203

“The language of investing in the future, anyone. And its provenance comes, not like the derivative itself, assumes a future from the singular place of its creation at once deferred and near, a future whose and persistence, but from the ubiquity of endless profitability is seemingly secured the image of it. It’s a kind of network or by our faith in its magical possibility. distributed provenance, perhaps. Annie McClanahan (2013): Investing in the Wark, M. (2016). https://www.e-flux.com/ Future, Journal of Cultural Economy, 6:1, pp. journal/77/77374/digital-provenance-and-the- 78-93 // keywords: derivative, narrativity, future, artwork-as-derivative/ // keywords: distribution, postponement immaterial it might appear that the traditional form Far from making the work of art ob- of art is obsolete. If it has value, it is as solete, the reproducible image gives it something from a past way of life, before a new kind of value. It is not quite the information technology took over. But case that the original and the copy be- actually, what appears to be happening come indistinguishable. But it is the case is stranger than that. Let’s look at some that their relationship can be reversible. of the special ways in which art as rarity The copy can precede the original. You interacts now in novel ways with infor- see a reproduction of something and mation as plenty, producing some rather that makes you want to go see the thing striking opportunities to create value. of which it is the copy. Wark, M. (2016). https://www.e-flux.com/ Wark, M. (2016). https://www.e-flux.com/ journal/77/77374/digital-provenance-and-the- journal/77/77374/digital-provenance-and-the- artwork-as-derivative/ // keywords: distribution, artwork-as-derivative/ // keywords: distribution, narrativity immaterial, derivative information about the artwork circulat- The artwork is a derivative of its simula- ing in the world that makes it collectible. tion, or rather of its simulations, plural. It is also the noise. As with any other This is the way the actual, particular art- financial instrument in a portfolio, the work can still work as a sort of hedge. An artwork in a collection gains and loses artwork is a risky proposition. It might value at the volatile edge between infor- in the long run turn out to be worth no mation and noise. more than any random bit of painted canvas. But if the artwork can be a port- Wark, M. (2016). https://www.e-flux.com/ folio of different kinds of simulation of journal/77/77374/digital-provenance-and-the- itself, it is possible to manage the risk artwork-as-derivative/ // keywords: distribution, narrativity Wark, M. (2016). https://www.e-flux.com/ journal/77/77374/digital-provenance-and-the- It is the reproduction of the work, elec- artwork-as-derivative/ // keywords: immaterial, tronically rather than mechanically, that derivative, future perversely enough makes it rare. The im- age of the GALA work in the TV show what is most interesting about the rela- is what Hito Steyerl calls a poor image, tion between art and information is the a wretched image, compressed and de- reciprocal relation between art as rarity graded and available on the internet for and information as ubiquity. It turns out 204

that ubiquity can be a kind of distributed ing to which everything is narrative with provenance, of which the artwork itself alterations between grand narratives and is the derivative. minor narratives. The notion of narra- tive locks us into oppositions between Wark, M. (2016). https://www.e-flux.com/ the real and artifice where both the posi- journal/77/77374/digital-provenance-and-the- tivists and the constructionists are lost. artwork-as-derivative/ // keywords: narrative, distribution, derivative Büscher-Ulbrich, D. (2020). Politics and the Production of Space: Downtown and Out with But the thing to pay attention to is that Rancière and Lefebvre. // keywords: narrativity the copy creates the provenance of the original, not the other way around. The The underlying and important assump- copy not only precedes but authenticates tion in modern day distribution is the the original. asymmetry of the arrangement. For most entrepreneurs distribution involves pig- Wark, M. (2016). https://www.e-flux.com/ gybacking on another organization with journal/77/77374/digital-provenance-and-the- much greater momentum. artwork-as-derivative/ // keywords: narrativity, derivative, distribution Kawasaki, Guy (2006). https://guykawasaki. com/the_art_of_dist_1/ // keywords: distribution The artwork, like any other financial in- strument, needs nothing to exist beyond A viral product could have no distribu- its documentation. tion, and a distributed product might not be viral. Wark, M. (2016). https://www.e-flux.com/ journal/77/77374/digital-provenance-and-the- Kawasaki, Guy (2006). https://guykawasaki. artwork-as-derivative/ // keywords: narrativity, com/the_art_of_dist_1/ keywords: distribution derivative Unlike Hito Steyerl, I don’t think art is a The most logical distribution partners currency. I think it’s a derivative, which have “adjacent” businesses that truly is not quite the same thing as a curren- need each other to function well. cy. A currency can store value or act as a means of exchange. A derivative does Kawasaki, Guy (2006). https://guykawasaki. something different. It manages and com/the_art_of_dist_1/ // keywords: distribu- hedges risk. What we need, then, is a tion, collaboration theory of art as a derivative. The right perspective for distribution Wark, M. (2016). https://www.e-flux.com/ partners is: Let’s both make money. For journal/77/77374/digital-provenance-and-the- sure, it’s not: How can I ensure that we artwork-as-derivative/ // keywords: narrativity, make a ton of money and stick it to our derivative partner? I have never seen a case where only partner makes money. Either ev- The real must be fictionalized to be eryone makes money or no one does. thought. This [Kantian/Lacanian propo- sition should be distinguished from any Kawasaki, Guy (2006). https://guykawasaki. discourse”positive or negative” accord- com/the_art_of_dist_1/ // keywords: distribu- 205

tion, collaboration Is art a currency? Investor Stefan Sim- chowitz thinks so. He wrote with un- Further down the food chain, media art, compromising clarity about the post- like Bitcoin, tries to manage the contra- Brexit era: “Art will effectively continue dictions of digital scarcity by limiting the its structural function as an alternative illimitable. currency that hedges against inflation and currency depreciation.” Have silver Steyerl, H. (2016). https://www.e-flux.com/ paintings become a proxy gold stan- journal/76/69732 /if-you-don-t-have-bread-eat- dard? How did it come to this? art-contemporary-art-and-derivative-fascisms/ // keywords: distribution Steyerl, H. (2016). https://www.e-flux.com/ journal/76/69732 /if-you-don-t-have-bread-eat- As to the encryption part in art: art is of- art-contemporary-art-and-derivative-fascisms/ ten encrypted to the point of sometimes // keywords: derivative being undecryptable. Encryption is rou- tinely applied, even or especially if there Quantitative easing eroded currency sta- is no meaning whatsoever. bility and depleted common resources, entrenching a precarious service econ- Steyerl, H. (2016). https://www.e-flux.com/ omy with dismal wages, if any, eternal journal/76/69732 /if-you-don-t-have-bread-eat- gigs, eternal debt, permanent doubt, and art-contemporary-art-and-derivative-fascisms/ now increasing violence. // keywords: indeterminacy Steyerl, H (2016). https://www.e-flux.com/ Art’s economies divert investments from journal/76/69732 /if-you-don-t-have-bread-eat- sustainable job creation, education, and art-contemporary-art-and-derivative-fascisms/ research and externalize social cost and // keywords: debt risk. They bleach neighborhoods, under- pay, overrate, and peddle excruciating Derivative fascisms continue to grow, baloney. wherever disenfranchised middle classes fear (and face) global competition—and Steyerl, H. (2016). https://www.e-flux.com/ choose to both punch down and suck up journal/76/69732 /if-you-don-t-have-bread-eat- to reactionary oligarchies. art-contemporary-art-and-derivative-fascisms/ // keywords: distribution, debt, narrativity Steyerl, H. (2016). https://www.e-flux.com/ journal/76/69732 /if-you-don-t-have-bread-eat- art-contemporary-art-and-derivative-fascisms/ // keywords: derivative Contemporary art is just a hash for all investment in art seems somehow more that’s opaque, unintelligible, and unfair, real. Moreover, as alternative currency, for top-down class war and all-out in- art seems to fulfill what Ethereum and equality. Bitcoin have hitherto only promised. Rather than money issued by a nation Steyerl, H. (2016). https://www.e-flux.com/ and administrated by central banks, art journal/76/69732 /if-you-don-t-have-bread-eat- is a networked, decentralized, wide- art-contemporary-art-and-derivative-fascisms/ spread system of value. // keywords: narrativity, indeterminacy, debt 206

Steyerl, H. (2016). https://www.e-flux.com/ technology. On the contrary it can only journal/76/69732 /if-you-don-t-have-bread-eat- emerge through both a conscious effort art-contemporary-art-and-derivative-fascisms/ and exchange among diverse entities. It’s // keywords: narrativity, distribution an autonomy that works through circu- lation, transformation, and alchemy. It will be more of the same, just much worse: less pay for workers, less ex- Steyerl, H. (2016). https://www.e-flux.com/ change, fewer perspectives, less circula- journal/76/69732 /if-you-don-t-have-bread-eat- tion, and even less regulation, if such a art-contemporary-art-and-derivative-fascisms/ thing is even possible. Inconvenient art // keywords: distribution will fly out the window—anything non- flat, non-huge, or remotely complex or This bloated, entitled, fully superfluous, challenging. embarrassing, and most of all politically toxic overhead is subsidized by means of Steyerl, H. (2016). https://www.e-flux.com/ free labor and life time, but also by pay- journal/76/69732 /if-you-don-t-have-bread-eat- ing attention to blingstraction and cir- art-contemporary-art-and-derivative-fascisms/ culating its spinoffs, thus creating reach // keywords: distribution, immaterial and legitimacy. If art is an alternative currency, its circu- Steyerl, H. (2016). https://www.e-flux.com/ lation also outlines an operational infra- journal/76/69732 /if-you-don-t-have-bread-eat- structure. art-contemporary-art-and-derivative-fascisms/ // keywords: debt, derivative, narrativity Steyerl, H. (2016). https://www.e-flux.com/ journal/76/69732 /if-you-don-t-have-bread-eat- Refusing sponsorship of this sort might art-contemporary-art-and-derivative-fascisms/ be the first step towards shaking the un- // keywords: derivative, distribution sustainable and mortifying dependency on speculative operations that indirectly —just because the infrastructure or increase authoritarian violence and di- technology exists—would be like ex- vision. Spend free time assisting col- pecting the internet to create socialism leagues, not working for free for bank or automation to evenly benefit all hu- foundations. mankind. The internet spawned Uber and Amazon, not the Paris Commune. Steyerl, H. (2016). https://www.e-flux.com/ The results may be called “the sharing journal/76/69732 /if-you-don-t-have-bread-eat- economy,” but this mostly means that the art-contemporary-art-and-derivative-fascisms/ poor share with the rich, not vice versa. // keywords: derivative, collaboration Steyerl, H. (2016). https://www.e-flux.com/ Art’s organizing role in the value-pro- journal/76/69732 /if-you-don-t-have-bread-eat- cess—long overlooked, downplayed, art-contemporary-art-and-derivative-fascisms/ worshipped, or fucked—is at last becom- // keywords: immaterial, distribution ing clear enough to approach, if not ra- tionally, than perhaps realistically. this autonomy is not solitary, unlinked, or isolated. Nor will it come about by Steyerl, H. (2016). https://www.e-flux.com/ some fantasy of progress in-built into journal/76/69732 /if-you-don-t-have-bread-eat- art-contemporary-art-and-derivative-fascisms/ // keywords: derivative, narrativity 207

The core of its value is generated less up a market share that rivals or exceeds by transaction than by endless negotia- the relatively few current bestsellers and tion, via gossip, criticism, hearsay, hag- blockbusters, if the store or distribution gling, heckling, peer reviews, small talk, channel is large enough. and shade. The result is a solid tangle of feudal loyalties and glowing enmity, Grinda, F. (2006). https://fabricegrinda.com/the- rejected love and fervent envy, pooling long-tail/ // keywords: distribution, long tail striving, longing, and vital energies. The key factor that determines whether Steyerl, H. (2016). https://www.e-flux.com/ a sales distribution has a Long Tail is the journal/76/69732 /if-you-don-t-have-bread-eat- cost of inventory storage and distribu- art-contemporary-art-and-derivative-fascisms/ tion. // keywords: narrativity Grinda, F. (2006). https://fabricegrinda.com/the- In short, the value is not in the product long-tail/ // keywords: distribution, long tail but in the network; implications for culture and politics. Steyerl, H. (2016). https://www.e-flux.com/ Where the opportunity cost of inven- journal/76/69732 /if-you-don-t-have-bread-eat- tory storage and distribution is high, art-contemporary-art-and-derivative-fascisms/ only the most popular products are sold. // keywords: derivative, immaterial But where the Long Tail works, minor- ity tastes are catered to, and individuals not in gaming or predicting the market are offered greater choice. In situations but in creating exchange. Most impor- where popularity is currently deter- tantly, art is one of the few exchanges mined by the lowest common denomi- that derivative fascists don’t control— nator, a Long Tail model may lead to im- yet. provement in a society’s level of culture. Steyerl, H. (2016). https://www.e-flux.com/ Grinda, F. (2006). https://fabricegrinda.com/ journal/76/69732 /if-you-don-t-have-bread-eat- the-long-tail/ // keywords: distribution, long tail, art-contemporary-art-and-derivative-fascisms/ derivative // keywords: future, distribution The impossible withdrawal of concep- But as a reserve system for dumb, mean, tual art from the commodity, tried to and greedy money, art’s social value step away from the materiality of the art (auto)destructs and turns into a shell op- work. As many examples show this was eration that ultimately just shields more destined to be incorporated in a capital- empty shells and amplifies fragmenta- ist structure. It just expanded formats tion and division. instead of dismissing them. Now what seems more interesting is the way they Steyerl, H. (2016). https://www.e-flux.com/ reframed the distribution of those com- journal/76/69732 /if-you-don-t-have-bread-eat- modities. art-contemporary-art-and-derivative-fascisms/ // keywords: indeterminacy, distribution Unknown Source // keywords: immaterial, dis- tribution products that are in low demand or have low sales volume can collectively make 208

In an attempt to define what he saw as In Michel Foucault’s lectures on biopoli- the ‘emerging Creative Age’, Florida tics in the late 1970s, he presciently per- claimed that creativity was ‘the defin- ceived the neoliberal ideal to be a new way ing feature of economic life’, and he pro- in which people are made into subjects. ceeded to lay out a formula for economic Whereas in its classical liberalist form homo growth by focussing on the construction oeconomicus – the principle that people try of creative centres and cities. to maximize their gains – represented the basis of governmental action, Foucault sees Hill, W. (2016). Hipster Aesthetics: Creatives neoliberalism as a form of governance in with no Alternative. Electronic Melbourne Art which people effectively govern themselves. Journal, (9) // keywords: narrativity, distribution Hill, W. (2016). Hipster Aesthetics: Creatives In Debord’s 1967 account of the Society with no Alternative. Electronic Melbourne Art of the Spectacle, he argued the central Journal, (9) // keywords: narrativity role of the commodity in capitalism as analysed by Marx had been superseded Beyond the commercial exploitation of by the spectacle, where social relations subcultural distinctiveness, what con- between people are mediated by images nects the YBAs and the cool hunting rather than by money. phenomenon is this idea of a cultural vernacular, where everyday culture in Hill, W. (2016). Hipster Aesthetics: Creatives all of its diversity, particularly street with no Alternative. Electronic Melbourne Art culture, becomes a site for individual, Journal, (9) // keywords: narrativity, distribution creative and non-conformist identity – what Thomas Frank named in 1997 as Bourriaud’s project amounts to a theory the rise of the rebel consumer. of advanced art in the era of a putatively new service economy, a context within Hill, W. (2016). Hipster Aesthetics: Creatives which, it is claimed, art abandons its pri- with no Alternative. Electronic Melbourne Art or (industrial) object forms and shifts to Journal, (9) // keywords: narrativity, language the immaterial form of services This other abstraction is the derivative, Hill, W. (2016). Hipster Aesthetics: Creatives via which each of the component flows with no Alternative. Electronic Melbourne Art in commodification can be subdivided, Journal, (9) // keywords: immaterial valued, combined and sold again and again in the form of a financial instru- Emerging out of a recession in Britain ment. On top of the quantitative abstrac- that began in 1989, the economic down- tion of the energetics of production is a turn fostered a D.I.Y. spirit of entrepre- quantitative abstraction of the informa- neurialism, and compelled emerging tion about all of the possible future states British artists to re-build British art in a of that system. more up-to-date image, rejecting what they saw as its elitist and provincialist Wark, M. (2017, April 09). After Capitalism, the legacy. Derivative. // keywords: derivative, distribution, narrativity, future Hill, W. (2016). Hipster Aesthetics: Creatives with no Alternative. Electronic Melbourne Art Dance is a site for thinking about how Journal, (9) // keywords: distribution, narrativity the body in movement makes value. In a 209

factory, bodies move, products extrude, prior to it. but then those commodities are alien- ated from their maker and enter circu- Wark, M. (2017, April 09). After Capitalism, the lation, and end up inside circulation in Derivative. // keywords: derivative, distribution forms of credit and debt. Dance is dif- ferent. Derivatives are a kind of “meta-capital.” Admittedly, “stuff still gets made and Wark, M. (2017, April 09). After Capitalism, the sold, even if through thickets of debt and Derivative. // keywords: distribution, future credit” Risk management in professional fields, Wark, M. (2017, April 09). After Capitalism, the from health to security to energy to fi- Derivative. // keywords: derivative, future nance generate value from the unknown. Knowledge is now so abundant it can’t The horror of Groundhog Day is not be- all be used, and its excess can generate ing stuck in today, but knowing the fu- disaster. Knowledge is a kind of credit, ture is set. but the unknown is a kind of debt. The industrialization of knowledge is like the Unknown Source // keywords: future transformation of farmers into workers. There’s a loss of a particular connection Bait-and-Switch Credits The program’s to means of production. opening credits promise wondrous things — its images of stupendous beau- Wark, M. (2017, April 09). After Capitalism, the ty, righteous butt-kicking, and noble he- Derivative. // keywords: future roes make it clear what’s to come in the story. Except, once you get into the pro- Since expert knowledge can’t fix ‘econ- gram, you never see those things again omy,’ non-knowledge has its day. Non- — and sometimes, you see the exact op- knowledge comes in a few flavors. The posite. unknown known is, or was, discover- able by expertise. The known unknown https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ is imaginable but impossible to verify. BaitAndSwitchCredits // keywords: narrativity The unknown unknown is a generative absence of knowledge confronting risk Moreover, due to computer technology, and uncertainty. The burden of endur- many sectors that had long remained on ing all of these shifts onto individuals. the margins of the industrial world— “Non-knowledge rules in the world risk small traders, education, healthcare, society.” (47) Non-knowledge generates personal services—are now adopting the derivative logics. These prosper now that management practices of global corpo- non-knowledge is a force of production. rations, and are subject to accounting standards that come from industry. Wark, M. (2017, April 09). After Capitalism, the Derivative. // keywords: narrativity, derivative Boltanski, L. & Esquerre, A. (2016). The eco- nomic life of things: Commodities, Collectibles, Not only is the totality of derivatives big- Assets. New Left Review, vol. 98, p. 31-54 // ger than the commodity economy, it is keywords: distribution 210

Newspapers with falling circulations whole districts, as in ‘France’s most have taken to publishing weekly or beautiful villages’, with listed areas then monthly supplements to bring in money subject to ‘protection’ measures, often from the luxury-goods sector, in an at- involving the fabrication of more or less tempt to buttress themselves against the fictional histories economic downturn. Boltanski, L. & Esquerre, A. (2016). The eco- Boltanski, L. & Esquerre, A. (2016). The eco- nomic life of things: Commodities, Collectibles, nomic life of things: Commodities, Collectibles, Assets. New Left Review, vol. 98, p. 31-54 // Assets. New Left Review, vol. 98, p. 31-54 // keywords: narrativity keywords: distribution, derivative Any object can be enriched, however These publications typically combine ad- ancient or modern it is, and the enrich- vertisements for luxury goods — watch- ment can be physical—for example, es, cars, jewellery, perfumes — with ar- exposing beams in an old house—or ticles on cutting-edge life-style products, cultural, through the use of a narrative desirable locations and celebrity artists device that highlights certain of the ob- or designers; features and advertise- ject’s qualities, thereby producing and ments are presented seamlessly, as inex- formatting differences and identities, tricable components of the same world. which are primary resources of enrich- ment economies. Boltanski, L. & Esquerre, A. (2016). The eco- nomic life of things: Commodities, Collectibles, Boltanski, L. & Esquerre, A. (2016). The eco- Assets. New Left Review, vol. 98, p. 31-54 // nomic life of things: Commodities, Collectibles, keywords: narrativity Assets. New Left Review, vol. 98, p. 31-54 // keywords: narrativity These magazines pay increasing atten- tion not only to the objects themselves, In enrichment economies, these status but to the spheres in which they are distinctions are often a function of prop- designed and circulated: to the human erty rights, especially for intellectual beings surrounding them—designers, property:a limited quantity of rights- couturiers, chefs, antique dealers, hair- holders co-exist with a much larger stylists, collectors and curators—and the number of people performing fragmen- remarkable ‘personalities’ who link their tary tasks. name and image to these new objets d’art (as in the ‘celebrity branding’ of clothes Boltanski, L. & Esquerre, A. (2016). The eco- or perfume). nomic life of things: Commodities, Collectibles, Assets. New Left Review, vol. 98, p. 31-54 // Boltanski, L. & Esquerre, A. (2016). The eco- keywords: derivative, immaterial nomic life of things: Commodities, Collectibles, Assets. New Left Review, vol. 98, p. 31-54 // We will begin with objects themselves keywords: narrativity, distribution and the modalities by which their value is established, paying close attention to The rise of exceptional objects is flanked ‘the creation and destruction of value’ by another phenomenon: heritage cre- and those moments in the ‘social life of ation. The heritage brand can now be things’ when they change hands, wheth- stamped on buildings, monuments or er for money or in the form of inheri- 211

tances or donations. they grow older, they become more valu- able. Boltanski, L. & Esquerre, A. (2016). The eco- nomic life of things: Commodities, Collectibles, Boltanski, L. & Esquerre, A. (2016). The eco- Assets. New Left Review, vol. 98, p. 31-54 // nomic life of things: Commodities, Collectibles, keywords: value, distribution Assets. New Left Review, vol. 98, p. 31-54 // keywords: long tail ‘Value’, on the other hand, serves as the justification for prices, which may be of- Obviously, the acquisition of such com- fered prior to purchase, as in the case of modities can serve another purpose, that an advertisement, or in response to the of conspicuous consumption, drawing questioning of a price. Value is thus es- attention to one’s wealth; but they often sentialist: it refers to properties said to seem to be purchased and stockpiled be inherent to the object in question; but without ever being displayed before the it remains conjectural as long as the ob- eyes of others—or even their owner’s ject has not passed the exchange test and eyes, in the case of large-scale collectors. found its price. Boltanski, L. & Esquerre, A. (2016). The eco- Boltanski, L. & Esquerre, A. (2016). The eco- nomic life of things: Commodities, Collectibles, nomic life of things: Commodities, Collectibles, Assets. New Left Review, vol. 98, p. 31-54 // Assets. New Left Review, vol. 98, p. 31-54 // keywords: storage, immaterial keywords:narrativity, future, distribution We will examine three of these: the ‘stan- But a given artefact is only deemed dard form’, on which industrial produc- to be a work of art after it has entered tion is based; the ‘collection form’, which the world in which such objects are ex- is used to varying degrees by enrichment changed; the obvious sign of this eleva- economies; and the ‘asset form’, whereby tion is when the object finds its place in things are valued not in terms of their a collection. physical, aesthetic or historical proper- ties, but strictly in terms of the price they Boltanski, L. & Esquerre, A. (2016). The eco- are expected to fetch. nomic life of things: Commodities, Collectibles, Assets. New Left Review, vol. 98, p. 31-54 // Boltanski, L. & Esquerre, A. (2016). The eco- keywords: distribution nomic life of things: Commodities, Collectibles, Assets. New Left Review, vol. 98, p. 31-54 // The selection of one artefact from keywords immaterial, narrativity, future among a mass of similar items destined for oblivion—the normal fate of objects The collection form places little empha- in the standard form, as we have seen— sis on labour time [...] But it must take means that those who view it are asked account of other costs that are often very to do so through the eyes of poster- substantial, such as conservation (stor- ity, treating the work as if it already be- age, maintenance, restoration, insur- longed to the past. ance, etc.). So far as waste is concerned, the collection form reverses the trajecto- Boltanski, L. & Esquerre, A. (2016). The eco- ry of objects established by the standard nomic life of things: Commodities, Collectibles, form: instead of decreasing in worth as Assets. New Left Review, vol. 98, p. 31-54 // keywords: future 212

Building a collection is rarely a solitary places. activity: it nearly always implies the exis- tence of a community of collectors who Boltanski, L. & Esquerre, A. (2016). The eco- trade with one another, and thereby es- nomic life of things: Commodities, Collectibles, tablish a system of principles governing Assets. New Left Review, vol. 98, p. 31-54 // the field as a whole. keywords: distribution, narrativity Boltanski, L. & Esquerre, A. (2016). The eco- assets that promise future profits whose nomic life of things: Commodities, Collectibles, forecast takes into account a moderate Assets. New Left Review, vol. 98, p. 31-54 // risk cost, on condition they are traded keywords: collaboration in the short term—for example, because their circulation would benefit from mi- objects can always circulate according to metic effects favouring speculation, as is principles that are neither those of the often the case for financial assets, though standard nor the collection form, but in- also for works of art; in other words, the stead conform to constraints that could preference for present profits wins out be called the ‘asset’ form, in the sense of over the future. items bought purely for the opportunity they offer to accumulate capital. Here, Boltanski, L. & Esquerre, A. (2016). The eco- the only relevant property of the object nomic life of things: Commodities, Collectibles, is its price. Assets. New Left Review, vol. 98, p. 31-54 // keywords: narrativity, derivative Boltanski, L. & Esquerre, A. (2016). The eco- nomic life of things: Commodities, Collectibles, Money earned from trading in highly Assets. New Left Review, vol. 98, p. 31-54 // volatile assets can be ‘banked’ in this keywords: distribution, value fashion: put into reserve through in- vestments that seem particularly able to But other differences do come into play resist the test of time, even if they offer with the asset form, especially the ease only moderate revenue. of converting the object into hard cash: its liquidity. Boltanski, L. & Esquerre, A. (2016). The eco- nomic life of things: Commodities, Collectibles, Boltanski, L. & Esquerre, A. (2016). The eco- Assets. New Left Review, vol. 98, p. 31-54 // nomic life of things: Commodities, Collectibles, keywords: postponement Assets. New Left Review, vol. 98, p. 31-54 // keywords: immaterial The process is abstract, insofar as en- richment is evaluated in accounting The first is the transportability of the terms: profits accumulated over a given object (or its title deed). The second is period are calculated as the difference the ability to conduct transactions dis- between two appraisals made at two dif- creetly—to buy or sell the asset without ferent times; it is therefore impossible to attracting the attention of tax inspectors, achieve the kind of satiation that might for example. The last concerns the exis- be expected if wealth were instead fo- tence of reliable tools of assessment that cused on consumption needs, including can be used over a wide geographical expensive, high-end goods. area, so that the object can be bought or sold for a similar price in many different Boltanski, L. & Esquerre, A. (2016). The eco- 213

nomic life of things: Commodities, Collectibles, Assets. New Left Review, vol. 98, p. 31-54 // Assets. New Left Review, vol. 98, p. 31-54 // keywords: crisis keywords: narrativity However, to grasp the changes tak- Narrative shapes and guides us in the ing place within capitalist economies, constellation of desires and phenom- we must extend analysis of commodi- enological “intentions” that frame our ties beyond the world of manufactur- embodied experience; economic, politi- ing and get to grips with other ways of cal, ideological and religious narratives establishing the value of products that inform us at every moment of our lives. remain oriented towards exchange — as commodities are in the work of Marx — Potter, B. D. (2014). https://theotherjournal. even if they are not manufactured along com/2014/11/03/recycled-images-relational- industrial lines. aesthetics-and-the-sound-of-music // key- words: narrativity Boltanski, L. & Esquerre, A. (2016). The eco- nomic life of things: Commodities, Collectibles, To be an artist is not only to be aware of Assets. New Left Review, vol. 98, p. 31-54 // the “immaterial” scenarios that manifest keywords: distribution themselves in the objects, texts, images, and, above all, relationships which per- In the case of the asset form, power over vade our lives but also to use these “pre- relevant differences is held by people carious structures” as tools in the pursuit who, regardless of whether or not they of “particular narrative spaces.” are owners—ratings agencies, for exam- ple—estimate value based on narrative Potter, B. D. (2014). https://theotherjournal. projections about the future, especially com/2014/11/03/recycled-images-relational- about future profits: when they possess aesthetics-and-the-sound-of-music // key- significant capital resources, these pro- words: immaterial jections can become a factor in their own realization. [...] art figured prominently as an asset class used to store value and avoid taxes Boltanski, L. & Esquerre, A. (2016). The eco- and restitution claims. The Panama Pa- nomic life of things: Commodities, Collectibles, pers thus provided an unprecedented Assets. New Left Review, vol. 98, p. 31-54 // outlook on the deep connections be- keywords: narrativity, future, prescriptive tween art and offshore finance, whose covert operations were instrumental in This terrain, it will be conceded, is not the institutionalization of the contem- conducive to the emergence of new so- porary global art market in the 1990s. cial and political forces strong enough This demonstrates how art is not im- to confront unequal wealth distribu- mune to market dynamics, which are in tion and capable of redeploying value- fact penetrating “ever more deeply into determination arrangements to more the texture of human life” (Cooper and egalitarian ends. Nor does it suggest a Konings, 2015: 242), landscape of social peace. Lotti, L. (2016). Contemporary art, capitalization Boltanski, L. & Esquerre, A. (2016). The eco- and the blockchain, 2(2): 96-110 // keywords: nomic life of things: Commodities, Collectibles, value 214

Acknowledging the fundamental role The way in which the liquid logic of de- that automated computational methods rivatives impacts the cultural realm is play in both cultural and financial dy- particularly evident in the post-Internet namics, I engage instead with the algo- condition of contemporary art, affecting rithmic infrastructure underlying both notions of objecthood, authorship, and global finance and contemporary art’s the cycle of production, distribution, “informational milieu” – the “dynamic and consumption in art. process of exchange among artist, art- work, and network” (Moss, 2013: para. Lotti, L. (2016). Contemporary art, capitalization 1) that encompasses cultural and techni- and the blockchain, 2(2): 96-110 // keywords: cal, but also institutional and financial derivative, immaterial, distribution relations. through complex correlations among Lotti, L. (2016). Contemporary art, capitalization datasets that involve Google Trends and the blockchain, 2(2): 96-110 // keywords: and Instagram data, in addition to “In- distribution ternet presence, auction results, market saturation, market support and CV data According to Bryan and Rafferty (2006), – education, representation, et cetera” the logic of derivatives proceeds accord- (Goldstein, 2015: para. 58). In other ing to a double movement of temporal words, ArtRank treats artists’ names as binding and blending that erases the commodities, and sorts them according differences between money, capital, and to hype on the basis of the circulatory commodities. In doing so, it flattens the logic of the market. As Bloomberg puts heterogeneity of things and relations it: “ArtRank gives art the stock market onto the computational plane of the treatment” market Lotti, L. (2016). Contemporary art, capitalization Lotti, L. (2016). Contemporary art, capitalization and the blockchain, 2(2): 96-110 // keywords: and the blockchain, 2(2): 96-110 // keywords: narrativity, distribution derivative My argument is not that this is due to In this way, ArtRank exacerbates the contemporary art’s stylistic choices or condition of ‘Artists Without Art’ identi- metaphorical appropriations; rather, it is fied by Brad Troemel et al. (2012: para. because valuation methods in contem- 4). This is the condition by which artists porary art increasingly mirror liquidity are clustered into homogenous groups as the architectural principle of contem- according to the activity of sorting, porary finance and foundation of capi- ranking, and matching algorithms, ul- talization. This, in turn, is directly relat- timately turning contemporary art into ed to the computational infrastructure self-referential closed loops, so that “the that underlies both financial markets artist-viewer and other artist-viewers are and contemporary art’s informational caught in a sphere of perpetual reception milieu. and distribution” Lotti, L. (2016). Contemporary art, capitalization Lotti, L. (2016). Contemporary art, capitalization and the blockchain, 2(2): 96-110 // keywords: and the blockchain, 2(2): 96-110 // keywords: value distribution 215

At the same time, the condition of Art- points to a future in which art may in- ists Without Art is matched by ‘Art deed become a currency, but one that is Without Artists’, which indicates the privatized, hyperfinancialized, and hy- subsumption of art into ‘the Curatorial’ percapitalized. Monegraph “uses cryp- (Vidokle, 2010). This refers not only to tography to bring meatspace scarcity the making of exhibitions, but also to to online art”, thereby reproposing the the increasingly determining role of immaterial commodity paradigm char- curators as intermediaries between art- acteristic of liquid assets identified by ists and institutions, foregrounding the Amato and Fantacci. tendency to “automate the process of art production to render artists redundant” Lotti, L. (2016). Contemporary art, capitalization and the blockchain, 2(2): 96-110 // keywords: Lotti, L. (2016). Contemporary art, capitalization future, immaterial and the blockchain, 2(2): 96-110 // keywords: derivative Instead of activating supposedly inactive spectators, significant political art works From this perspective, the ‘value’ of con- “suspend the ordinary coordinates of temporary art becomes subsumed into sensory experience and reframe the net- pricing mechanisms and loses any on- work of relationships between spaces tological primacy. Stefan Heidenreich’s and times, subjects and objects, the com- (2016: para. 15) comment on this dy- mon and the singular” in order to trans- namic is particularly revealing: “Assess- form “the landscape of the possible.” ing a ‘real’ value [of contemporary art] is impossible, because reality is an effect of Kanouse S. (2007), Tactical Irrelevance: Art and the transaction”. Politics at Play, Democratic Communiqué 21, No. 2, pp. 23 - 39 // keywords: distribution Lotti, L. (2016). Contemporary art, capitalization and the blockchain, 2(2): 96-110 // keywords: It was not important to me whether peo- prescriptive, distribution ple at the events “got” the theoretical ar- guments the project as a whole proposed Dash observes that “physical artists” concerning the constitution of public have traditionally availed themselves of space, understood the project in light two instruments to “invent value around of traditions of socially-engaged art, or their work”. These are the provenance thought it to be art at all. What was more of an artwork, and the verification of its important was that participants engaged originality. In the digital realm, artists an ordinary space—such as the mall—in cannot use these devices, with important new ways, as in bartering, that reflected repercussions for the value, format, and their shifting expectations about how visibility of their work. that space and the people in it could op- erate in the future. Lotti, L. (2016). Contemporary art, capitalization and the blockchain, 2(2): 96-110 // keywords: Kanouse S. (2007), Tactical Irrelevance: Art and derivative Politics at Play, Democratic Communiqué 21, No. 2, pp. 23 - 39 // keywords: distribution, By pursuing the dream of authenticity future and institutional autonomy, Monegraph 216

[...] a discourse of ethical absolutism Whereas debt before this time was seen whereby collaborative work is always “bet- as a moral and social ill and the mark of ter” than non-collaborative work because bad character, by the 1970s, with the rise of the intentions and process of the art- of new forms of student debt, mortages, ists, regardless of how it actually functions credit cards and car loans, debt was a aesthetically. She charges that this critical normal and expected part of economic framework unconsciously reinscribes a subjectivity. Judeo-Christian morality of self -sacrifice “in which art is valued for its truthfulness Haiven, M. (2013). The Creative and the Deriva- and educational efficacy rather than for tive, Radical History Review, #118 // keywords: inviting us…to confront darker, more pain- debt fully complicated considerations of our predicament.” Debt’s normalcy and its ubiquity reveal the cultural dimensions of financializa- Kanouse S. (2007), Tactical Irrelevance: Art and tion— a process made commonplace as Politics at Play, Democratic Communiqué 21, the ideas and tropes of financial man- No. 2, pp. 23 - 39 // keywords: collaboration, agement have seeped into our everyday value parlance. For cultural theorist Randy Martin, this Haiven, M. (2013). The Creative and the Deriva- shift has been marked by finance’s im- tive, Radical History Review, #118 // keywords: perative to comprehensively map the debt, narrativity future through sophisticated techniques for measuring and manipulating prob- The appearance of “creativity” as the ability.The derivative is the archetypical partner of destruction here is no acci- “technology” of this paradigm, one that dent, or more accurately, it is no accident allows for the commodification of future that Schumpeter’s initially pessimistic uncertainty as present day “risk” and so and academic term became a crucial ele- thrusts capital’s reach toward eternity. ment of financial self-­representation. Haiven, M. (2013). The Creative and the Deriva- Haiven, M. (2013). The Creative and the Deriva- tive, Radical History Review, #118 // keywords: tive, Radical History Review, #118 // keywords: future, derivative narrativity The revenue-s­tarved state treats the To demonstrate their quality to inves- welfare of its citizens less in terms of tors, firms need to prove not merely prof- any democratic responsibility and more itability but also innovation, a capacity through the financial logic of risk-man- to stay ahead of the curve, to constantly agement, a kind of economic triage. revolutionize their means of production Health, education and civil infrastructure (and distribution, and sales). Financial- projects comes to be assessed for their ization, then, drives and is driven by an returns on investment and their poten- economy pathologically addicted to the tial to be “leveraged” toward economic performance of creativity. growth or future government savings. Haiven, M. (2013). The Creative and the Deriva- Haiven, M. (2013). The Creative and the Deriva- tive, Radical History Review, #118 // keywords: tive, Radical History Review, #118 // keywords: narrativity future 217

We are not only encouraged to imagine one that spreads through and influences our subjectivities as “portfolios” of traits, various social, economic, and govern- skills, experiences, and competencies mental spheres. that we might rent out, but we are also expected to see this as the expression Haiven, M. (2013). The Creative and the Deriva- of inherent creativity. Here, the model tive, Radical History Review, #118 // keywords: portfolio is not only that of the financier distribution but also of the artist. Discounting recognizes that both indi- Haiven, M. (2013). The Creative and the Deriva- viduals and societies prefer to get bene- tive, Radical History Review, #118 // keywords: fits sooner and to postpone any costs un- narrativity til later. Discounting gives lesser weight to benefits and costs that occur in future Finance permits the commodification years. Thus, for each year that either of these creative commons indirectly, costs or benefits are delayed, their value selling individuals and firms access to is reduced by the annual discount rate. unique and attractive neighborhoods along with the promise of higher fu- Goklany, I. (n.d.). Discounting the future. (2009), ture returns as property prices increase. https://www.academia.edu/4232816/Discount- While capital cannot directly capture the ing_the_future // keywords: future neighborhood’s common creativity, fi- nancialization offers a means by which Human agency and experience lose their capital can derive value and help shape primacy in the complexity and scale of this collective creative labor. social organization today. The leading actors are instead complex systems, in- Haiven, M. (2013). The Creative and the Deriva- frastructures and networks in which the tive, Radical History Review, #118 // keywords: future replaces the present as the struc- narrativity, future, derivative turing condition of time. As the politi- cal Left and Right struggle to deal with [...] the implications of the derivative go this new situation, we are increasingly deeper. At the heart of the derivative is wholly pre-empted and post-everything.  the imperative to manage risk, to lever- age small investments into huge returns Avanessian, A. & Malik, S. (2016). The time by making more bets on expected wind- complex: Post-contemporary. Miami, FL: Publi- falls, and a logic of “preemptive” futurity, cations. // keywords: distribution, future which seeks to transform future uncer- tainity into present-day risk commodi- Complex societies — which means ties. more-than-human societies at scales of sociotechnical organization that surpass Haiven, M. (2013). The Creative and the Deriva- phenomenological determination — are tive, Radical History Review, #118 // keywords: those in which the past, the present, and derivative, future, prescriptive the future enter into an economy where maybe none of these modes is primary, The derivative represents a new conta- or where the future replaces the present gious logic or pattern of social and in- stitutional cognition and organization, 218

as the lead structuring aspect of time. vestment, nor from variable capital like labor or wages. Avanessian, A. & Malik, S. (2016). The time complex: Post-contemporary. Miami, FL: Publi- Avanessian, A. & Malik, S. (2016). The time cations. // keywords: future complex: Post-contemporary. Miami, FL: Publi- cations. // keywords: derivative the politics of preemptive strikes, which is also a new phenomenon of the 21st Derivatives are, in Natalia Zuluaga’s century. Brian Massumi and others have phrase, a specific kind of future min- written about the kind of recursive truth ing, an extraction from the future in the they produce: you bomb somewhere and present. But this mining of the future in then afterwards you will find the enemy the present changes what the present is. you expected. You produce a situation The present isn’t the one that you started that was initially a speculation. with. Avanessian, A. & Malik, S. (2016). The time Avanessian, A. & Malik, S. (2016). The time complex: Post-contemporary. Miami, FL: Publi- complex: Post-contemporary. Miami, FL: Publi- cations. // keywords: prescriptive cations. // keywords: derivative, future Rather, what happens in the present is The point is rather that “experience” of based on a preemption of the future, and time and the construction of something of course this is also linked to what has like chronological time are only effects been called a tendency towards preme- of grammar, not a representation of the diation in the media. direction of time or of what time really is. It’s the tenses in language that create Avanessian, A. & Malik, S. (2016). The time an ontology of chronological time for us, complex: Post-contemporary. Miami, FL: Publi- and we live this time as the illusion of cations. // keywords: future, prescriptive having a biography. While the “pre-” indexes a kind of an- Avanessian, A. & Malik, S. (2016). The time ticipatory deduction of the future that is complex: Post-contemporary. Miami, FL: Publi- acting in the present — so that future is cations. // keywords: future, language already working within the now, again indicating how the present isn’t the pri- contemporary art is integrated into neo- mary category but is understood to be liberalism’s enrichment of experience for organized by the future its elite beneficiaries, and those there- abouts, in a way that promotes change Avanessian, A. & Malik, S. (2016). The time and revision. This is part of the complex- complex: Post-contemporary. Miami, FL: Publi- ity of the speculative present of neoliber- cations. // keywords: prescriptive , future al capitalist development: it looks like a personal good, an enrichment of experi- The derivative is a clear example of how ment by aestheticization, by promoting profits are not extracted on the basis of change while maintaining a certain sta- production or from fixed capital like bility. equipment, plant and construction, all of which depend upon the history of in- Avanessian, A. & Malik, S. (2016). The time complex: Post-contemporary. Miami, FL: Publi- 219

cations. // keywords: narrativity The genius of the bourgeoisie manifests itself in the circuits of power and money Contemporary art is both a symptom that regulate the flow of culture. and surrogate of that futurelessness, with its constant celebration of experience: Price, S. (2008). Dispersion. New York, NY: 38th aesthetic experience, criticality, present- Street. // keywords: distribution ness and so on. Distributed media can be defined as Avanessian, A. & Malik, S. (2016). The time social information circulating in theo- complex: Post-contemporary. Miami, FL: Publi- retically unlimited quantities in the cations. // keywords: future, placeholder common market, stored or accessed via portable devices such as books and mag- The impossible withdrawal of concep- azines, records and compact discs, vid- tual art from the commodity, tried to eotapes and DVDs, personal computers step away from the materiality of the art and data diskettes. work. As many examples show this was destined to be incorporated in a capital- Price, S. (2008). Dispersion. New York, NY: 38th ist structure. It just expanded formats Street. // keywords: distribution instead of dismissing them.  Now what seems more interesting is the way they If distribution and public are so impor- reframed the distribution of those com- tant, isn’t this, in a sense, a debate about modities.  “public art”? It’s a useful way to frame the discussion, but only if one under- Unknown Source // keywords: immaterial, dis- lines the historical deficiencies of that tribution discourse, and acknowledges the fact that the public has changed. The definition of artistic activity occurs, first of all, in the field of distribution. Price, S. (2008). Dispersion. New York, NY: 38th Street. // keywords: distribution Price, S. (2008). Dispersion. New York, NY: 38th Street. // keywords: distribution a popular album could be regarded as a more successful instance of public art However radical the work, it amounts than a monument tucked away in an ur- to a proposal enacted within an arena of ban plaza. The album is available every- peer-review, in dialogue with the com- where, since it employs the mechanisms munity and its history. Reflecting on of free market capitalism, history’s most his experience running a gallery in the sophisticated distribution system to 1960s, Dan Graham observed: “if a work date. of art wasn’t written about and repro- duced in a magazine it would have dif- Price, S. (2008). Dispersion. New York, NY: 38th ficulty attaining the status of ‘art’.” Street. // keywords: distribution Price, S. (2008). Dispersion. New York, NY: 38th An art grounded in distributed media Street. // keywords: distribution can be seen as a political art and an art of communicative action, not least be- 220

cause it is a reaction to the fact that the structure is figured as an ipso facto cri- merging of art and life has been effected tique of administered society and the most successfully by the “consciousness social, while engagement with design industry”. The field of culture is a public codes is seen as a comment on advertis- sphere and a site of struggle, and all of its ing and the commodity. manifestations are ideological. Price, S. (2008). Dispersion. New York, NY: 38th Price, S. (2008). Dispersion. New York, NY: 38th Street. // keywords: narrativity Street. // keywords: distribution, narrativity [...] all the traditional criteria of aesthetic With more and more media readily judment - of taste and of connoisseur- available through this unruly archive, ship - have been programmatically void- the task becomes one of packaging, pro- ed. The result of this is that the definition ducing, reframing, and distributing; a of the aesthetic becomes on the one hand mode of production analogous not to a matter of linguistic convention and on the creation of material goods, but to the the other the function of both the legal production of social contexts, using ex- contract and an institutional discourse isting material. Anything on the internet (a discourse of power rather than taste). is a fragment, provisional, pointing else- where. Nothing is finished. Buchloch, B. (1990). Conceptual Art 1962-1969. October, vol. 55, pp. 105-143 // keywords: nar- Price, S. (2008). Dispersion. New York, NY: 38th rativity Street. // keywords: distribution, narrativity, placeholder [...] the Conceptual Art came to displace even that image of the mass-produced One must return to Fountain, the most object and its aestheticized forms in Pop notorious and most interesting of the Art, replacing an aesthetic of industrial readymades, to see that the gesture does production and consumption with an not simply raise epistemological ques- aesthetic of administrative and legal or- tions about the nature of art, but enacts ganization and institutional validation. the dispersion of objects into discourse. Buchloch, B. (1990). Conceptual Art 1962-1969. Price, S. (2008). Dispersion. New York, NY: 38th October, vol. 55, pp. 105-143 // keywords: nar- Street. // keywords: distribution, narrativity rativity, distribution “The definition of artistic activity occurs, What Concepual Art achieved at least first of all, in the field of distribution.” temporarily, however, was to subject the — Marcel Broodthaers last residues of artistic aspiration toward transcendence (by means of traditional Price, S. (2008). Dispersion. New York, NY: 38th studio skills and privileged modes of ex- Street. // keywords: distribution perience) to the rigorous and relentless order of the vernancular of administra- Their appearance often simply gestures tion. toward a theoretically engaged position, such that a representation of space or Buchloch, B. (1990). Conceptual Art 1962-1969. October, vol. 55, pp. 105-143 // keywords: nar- rativity 221

Paradoxically, then it would appear that world is a conglomerate of predictable Concepual Art truly became the most algorhythms, allows no deviating op- significant paradigmatic change of post- tions. war artistic production at the very mo- ment that it mimed the operating logic Rasch, M. (2020). Ethics in times of dataism. De of late capitalism and its positivist in- Groene Amsterdammer — 14/05/2020 // key- strumentalilty in an effort to place its words: narrativity, future, prescriptive auto-critical investigations at the service of liquidating even the last remnants of “Electronic annoucement service” thus traditional aesthetic experience. does not begin to encompass the breadth of e-flux activity, given its vast reach of Buchloch, B. (1990). Conceptual Art 1962-1969. distribution, the accumulative quantity October, vol. 55, pp. 105-143 // keywords: of its announcements, its widespread distribution effect on availability of material on con- temporary art, and its unique position as Or worse yet, that the Enlightenment- itself a critical art. “Distribution” is a key triumph of Conceptual Art — its trans- factor for analyzing e-flux as such. formation of audiences and distribution, its abolition of object status and com- Voorhies, J. T. (2017). Beyond objecthood: modity form — would most of all only The exhibition as a critical form since 1968. be shortlives, almost immediately giving Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press. // keywords: away to the ghostlike reapparitions of distribution (prematurely?) displaced painterly and sculptural paradigms of the past. In the context of the current “daticul- tural revolution,” as one NSA official Buchloch, B. (1990). Conceptual Art 1962-1969. recently dubbed the current totalitarian- October, vol. 55, pp. 105-143 // keywords: dis- ism of data, unknowns are foreclosed al- tribution, immaterial ready as part of the expected procedure of capture and classification. Data is in- Harry Magdoff and Paul Sweezy pro- tercepted and gathered with the aim of posed that the general economic ten- generating “activity-based intelligence,” dency of mature capitalism is toward which means that any anomaly triggers stagnation. A shortage of profitable in- an alert for the paranoid techno-indus- vestment opportunities is the primary trial apparatus. Its default state is per- cause of this tendency. Less investment manent anticipation. It is eager to strike in the productive economy (the “real anywhere and everywhere the unknown economy”) means lower future growth. appears. Magdoff, F (2018). The Explosion of Debt Majaca, A. & Parisi, L. (2020). https://www.e- and Speculation. https://monthlyreview. flux.com/journal/77/76322/the-incomputable- org/2006/11/01/the-explosion-of-debt-and- and-instrumental-possibility // keywords: nar- speculation // keywords: future rativity, future Perhaps this is impossible, when you be- Austin argues that words are not purely lieve that the future emerges mechani- descriptive representations, but agents cally from the past. The idea that the able to bring about change. 222

Steyerl, H. (2019). Duty free art: Art in the age of It is also that categorization becomes planetary civil war. London: Verso. // keywords: productive. It produces objects in their narrativity own right, like Kant’s concepts, and these objects are both real and material. [...] any system, economic or other—that In this sense we can talk about the onto- at every given point of time fully utilizes genesis of digital objects. its possibilities to the best advantage may yet in the long run be inferior to a Hui, Y., & Lovink, G. (2016). https://www.e-flux. system that does so at no given point of com/journal/78/82706/digital-objects-and- time, because the latter’s failure to do so metadata-schemes // keywords: narrativity may be a condition for the level or speed of long-term performance. This notion [...] art’s portential to generate science- of long-term, inefficient, but ultimately fictional times zones [...] superior performance applies exactly to the kind of artists I want to discuss. Huyghe, P., Barikin, A., & Lynn, V. (2015). Pierre Huyghe: TarraWarra International 2015. Heales- Scanlan, J. (2008). https://www.artforum.com/ ville: TarraWarra Museum of Art, Limited. // print/200804/modest-proposals-19749 // key- narrativity words: distribution, long tail Conscious of this failing, analysts have In any wall drawing, the network of idea, turned to techniques such as scenario institution, local draftsmen, and LeWitt planning that involve exploring different (if not in body, then in spirit) determines possible futures rather than gambling on the value of the work, a value that does a single prediction. As an example, in not rest on any one substantiation but 1995 the Global Scenario Group, con- gets remade and recalibrated over time. vened by the Stockholm En-vironment Which is not to say that distribution Institutes, developed three scenario and profit margin were LeWitt’s guiding families. principles, but that his instinct for how an artwork might “be” in the world em- Popper, S. W., Lempert, R. J., & Bankes, S. C. bodies a fundamental shift in how and (2005). Shaping the future. New York: Scientific where we assign value. Like the best as- American. // keywords: future pects of the Internet economy, LeWitt’s starburst Wall Drawing #273: Lines Our approach is to look not for optimal to points on a grid, 1975, collects and strategies but for robust ones. A robust makes sense of diverse points in space strategy performs well when compared without privileging any of them, creat- with the alternatives across a wide range ing value (and income) out of the rela- of plausible futures. It need not be the tions between things rather than out of optimal strategy in any future; it will, the things themselves. however, yield satisfactory outcomes in both easy-to-envision futures and hard- Scanlan, J. (2008). https://www.artforum.com/ to-anticipate contingencies. print/200804/modest-proposals-19749 // key- words: value, distribution Popper, S. W., Lempert, R. J., & Bankes, S. C. (2005). Shaping the future. New York: Scientific American. // keywords: future, narrativity 223



A police man, a tourist and a cab driver walk into a bar. They are not thirsty, but order drinks anyways. Then the cabbie starts to laugh. The tourist joins in and soon the police man is laughing as well. All three of them are laughing out loud now. And it’s infectious, because soon the whole bar is laughing. Everybody laughing without knowing the joke.







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