Today's Black Mood

Recently, an arts adminsitrative colleague posed the question of why it's so hard to engage artists in the conceptual process, early in the team prrocess of public art. She knows the reason isn't the interest of artists but the attachment of others to commodified objects from artists.

As an artist very committed to the conceptual & intellectual process I find her efforts important.

As an artist with CFS, I find it tiresome and discouraging that so far down the line of the kinds of ideas that she's referencing, the battle is still up such a steep slope.

The reasons it's hard to get across new ideas about public, ecological art are simple. The attachment of the powers to be, funders, officials to the enshrined but undemanding object is sentimental. It keeps artists in cages, where we can't do damage to the status quo.

Rosylynn Deutsche said it best, a while back: the culture will support what supports the status quo.