I recently heard about a local art competition called ‘Seeking Picasso’, so I emailed the organisers to ask for information. On reading what the competition was based on and how it was organised, I decided not to enter.

The basics were as follows: out of all entrants, ten artists would be shortlisted for the competition. Every week for ten weeks, one piece of art per artist would be sold on Ebay. The artist who had the lowest selling piece would be disqualified each week until there was a winner. From the art that was sold, the artist would get 25%, the organisers would get 25% and 50% would go to the winner’s prize fund.

To me, it seemed immoral that the value of art would be judged on its sale price. The fact that the organisers would get the same amount of revenue as the artist also seemed unfair to me, since in my experience agents and galleries normally give the artist at least 75% of the sale price. I wanted to warn other artists to err on the side of caution before entering, so I made this clear on the forum. Alan (Al) Busby, organiser, got quite fired up in response, especially when I caught him out for contradicting himself! A sure sign of dodgy dealings if you ask me!

http://forums.seekingpicasso.com/viewtopic.php?t=18&start=15

ABSTRACT
This study examines issues surrounding the curating of new media art, looking at pressures on curators to honour concepts in the art they hope to display, alongside practical issues of promotion, dealing with art museum management, preservation and archiving of the work. This is done through examining three new media art projects as case studies: ‘Desert Rain’ by Blast Theory, ‘Desktop Subversibles’ by Jonah Brucker-Cohen and ‘Uncomfortable Proximity’ by Harwood@Mongrel. The case studies are followed by a critical analysis of the curation of a new media art show, ‘nu.art’ which was organised to support this paper. The curation of this art show is documented in a website which accompanies this paper on CD, and is at the date of publication at http://www.bethgranter.com/nuartsite.

The whole essay is available here: Curating New Media Art – Beth Granter

The appendix is available as a PDF : Curating New Media Art Appendix

In order to come out as homosexual to oneself, associates and the public, there must be an understanding of the concept of homosexuality in that society and to that individual. Similarly, there must be such an understanding of possible sexual identities in order to find oneself ‘in the closet’. To be ‘in’ or ‘out’, there must be a notion of what is being hidden, or revealed. This is taking a social constructionist understanding of sexuality and sexual categorisation, in contrast to essentialist views that believe it possible to hold a lesbian or gay identity even if there is no social or individual understanding of what such terms may mean in that particular culture or time in history (Calhoun, 2000: 21). Before the late nineteenth century, ‘homosexual’ as a distinct identity concept did not exist. There were homosexual acts, but these were non-procreative sins anybody was seen to be capable of committing (Seidman, 2004: 15). Individuals who felt same-sex desire, but were able to keep such feelings or experiences hidden, might even not have felt any need to alter their public identity. There may also have been more scope for gender-bending behaviour patterns or appearances as at that time gender experimentation was not so heavily associated as being representative of sexual deviance. There would have been little suspicion or concerns in the public mind to drive a witch-hunt for that type of ‘sinner’ yet. Queer individuals probably did not think of themselves as having a deviant identity that needed to be dealt with, as sexual behaviour was not such a central factor in personal identity at the time. Such is still the case in a number of non-western cultures that have been less influenced by Freudian notions of sexual behaviour being the fundamental component of identity.

The whole essay is available here: Coming Out as an Identity Forming Process [PDF]

The valorising of individuality in Western society, which is exaggerated in youth culture, has been described as ‘a cult of individualism’ (Atkinson, 2006: 75). Indicators of such traits may function as commodities in social settings, which in turn could earn social status, increasing social capital (Allik, 2004: 29). Resonating with capitalist notions of the individual as the center of importance, and perpetuating anti-communist abbhorrence of unification, individuality seems to be increasingly upheld in youth culture as virtuous (Traber, 2001: 30), to the extent that (within socially accepted boundaries and adherence to certain behavioural norms) perceived autonomy of an individual by others is related to the opportunities for social and community involvement they experience (Allik, 2004: 32).

The whole essay is available here: Individualism and Social Capital in an Online Social Networking Community: ‘MySpace’ as an organising site for Identity Construction [PDF]