Day 187: Why is Art so Expensive?

In one of the Afrikaans newspapers was an article on "Now everyone wants to have a Tretchi".

In the article, the author asks questions regarding the price of art - and why some art pieces are suddenly more expensive (though he's more talking about one artist in contrast to other artists - while from my perspective the same questions can apply to ALL Art).

The first thing that comes up when you ask people why Art is so expensive is the principle of Supply and Demand. There's only the one art piece which is unique in itself, only one person can have it and so in order to compete and exclude others from gaining access to it the price goes up.

But then the question of demand is not answered. Where does this demand come from? Where is this high willingness to pay for a physical object which may or may not even be aesthetically pleasant. I mean, Piero Manzoni canned his shit and it's called art.

It's all just based on consensus. A bunch of people agree that something is Art and now it's Art and now apparently it is 'valuable'. And if you want to be 'in' and you want to be part of this alternate reality called 'the art world' -- you want that painting/art piece that everyone agrees one is more worthy than other art pieces. I mean how ridiculous is that -- it's completely subjective. It's based on what other people agreed before them 'is art' and filter/interpret art through what they think they know about art. So they're not even looking at the actual piece for what it is, it first has to be filtered through someone's entire art knowledge before they have something to say about it.

Yes, art can be cool. I did art at some point and it's a fun medium to explore to express yourself and communicate in a different language where the art world has its own established 'symbolism' that you can use to convey a message.

But selling a painting like The card Players from Paul Cezanne for $267 million dollars? That's not what arts about, that's just a mind game. Especially if you consider that Paul Cezanne is looong dead and is never going to see any of the money -- so it's not supporting him in any way whatsover. If you look at Van Gogh, he had a terrible life -- what's in it for him when Portrait of Dr. Gachet was sold for $147.8 million. Surely, there's more important things you can do with your money? The person who actually deserved to get some money for the labour he put into the piece is long gone and you have a world where half of the population lives in misery -- so deciding to spend that amount of money on a piece of canvas with paint which together forms a picture over deciding to use your money to change the world for the better = it sounds kind of psychopathic to me.

The documentary "Exist through the Giftshop" by Banksy shows the whole Art scam quite clearly. In it, they follow around Thierry Guetta whose really into street art and basically a street art-wannabe and he ends up with his own exhibition selling pieces. And it's not like he put tons of work in the pieces because he mostly hired people to do the work for him and there's also not really a profound meaning behind any of his work. But because he's able to simulate art and 'make it look like art' = people believe it's art and make it art in their head. People come to his show and ask him questions and give their insight into what they are seeing and they're just making profound shit up and he just agrees with whatever they say = now it's art.

So art is all in the mind of the beholder and really has no other value than the time spent working on it and the money spent on acquiring the materials.

In Equal Money Capitalism Art will be valued as an expression -- not as an object to create an obsession about which leads to mental disorder like throwing tons of money away to get a piece while millions suffer.

You will also no longer be limited by people having to buy your art so you can survive and make more art -- your will be supported within developing and exploring your expression.

Expression and Creative Licensing

This will be more a ‘hobby’ point. For those people whose only income is derived from such activities, they’d have to be part of a greater collective like a Cultural Centre where many points of expression are explored and presented, where the general public can come and check it out and participate in community projects. It will be a place of coming together, having fun events, meeting people – socialising, which are all things people really enjoy.

In essence it’s about self-expression. You want the freedom to express. You will have the freedom to express and you will have the support that will give you the freedom to express. The concept of ‘ownership’ is only relevant to those points that are necessary to make your life function, like a house, a car – things like that. The other things are not really an ownership, because there’s nothing new. You’re simply expressing something that already exists. You are using notes in a particular sequence -- which forms a melody. The melody already existed - it’s just a coincidence that you’re the one that came up with that particular melody. The same goes for the lyrics of a song: the words you use for a song already exist, it’s just coincidence that you come up with it or another person comes up with it – it’s equally possible.

So it’s not about ownership there, or about having a copyright, or controlling it. That’s exactly the point we want to move away from – control. So that people can express themselves, if they like it.

http://economistjourneytolife.blogspot.com/2013/01/day-171-life-force-and-expression-in.html

This will allow a lot more people to enjoy and explore art as a point of Expression without the money constraints being in place -- while more people will also be able to enjoy appreciate one another's art. This will allow for Art to take on a whole new dimensions as there will be actual freedom to express.

Related articles

• Day 171: Life-Force and Expression in Equal Money Capitalism
• Day 180: The Word 'Capitalism' in 'Equal Money Capitalism'
• Day 173: Supply, Demand, Business and Scarcity in Equal Money Capitalism

Day 38: Realising Responsibility - Can’t Hide from Economics – Part 2

This is continuation of Day 37: Can’t Hide from Economics – Part 1, read this blog first for context

I forgive myself that I haven’t accepted and allowed myself to take full responsibility for myself and existence as myself – as it is the outflow of my acceptances and allowances and is thus in fact me

I forgive myself that I have accepted and allowed myself to ‘not care’ within not wanting to be diverted from ‘my life path’ and ‘what I like’ – where I do not want to step away from doing that which I have defined within myself as that which I “like” and will avoid and ignore all points which I have defined within myself as that which I “do not like” – without ever seeing/realizing/understanding that these likes and dislikes came about through memory – where I for instance did not understand something which was being said on the news about economics and within that moment decided that “economics is not for me”, and where from this moment forth, this is what economics is to me – where I will only every see/view/interact/participate with economics with the preset idea that “it is not for me” – and thus never actually deal with economics itself, but only ever with my idea as my opinion which I bring up within myself each time I am faced with a point in relation to economics

I forgive myself that I haven’t accepted and allowed myself to see and realise, that the “decision” to ‘not like’ economics, was never a real decision made by me, but a preference which emerged from memory: where I in the past reacted to not understanding economics, and where the reaction which emerged there in itself was also the result of memory before that – and thus I have never ever really lived or made any decisions, but only ever lived as memory within and as value judgments towards everything and everyone in my world – where within every moment that I am not here breathing as the Real Character which is the Physical Body which is part of this entire Physical Existence – I am only living as memories and creating new memories through memories and within that never ever participating and interacting with the real world – as I am the prisoner in Plato’s cave – only seeing the shadows as my opinions, ideas and beliefs – and never ever seeing, feeling, touching the real thing – as that which really matters, which is this Physical Earth and all physical bodies on Earth – and ensuring its optimum functioning

 I forgive myself that I haven’t accepted and allowed myself to see and realise that personal likes and dislikes created through memory are really irrelevant when one’s goal is to change the world, including self – as personal likes and dislikes as opinion is that which divides us and moves us away from that which we all share: which is the physical -- and our Human Physical Bodies as the Real Characters – and within that I forgive myself that I haven’t accepted and allowed myself to see and realise the importance of taking care of all beings Real Character equally as the Physical plane we all share, which is the ONLY real reality and the only reality which should be of importance to each and every single one of us

I forgive myself that I have accepted and allowed myself to try and attempt to hide from economics – which is like trying to avoid seeing my reflection in reflective surfaces – as what I am trying to hide from is myself, as this very world and existence came about through our agreement to give more value to thought as energy, as entertainment, instead of focusing on the only real value which is Life, here as the physical

I forgive myself that I haven’t accepted and allowed myself to see and realise – that within me not being in conflict with the economic system and the world, I am in fact agreeing and giving it permission to exist

I forgive myself that I have accepted and allowed myself to believe that I can afford to ‘not know about economics’, within the belief that economics does not affect my Li(f)e as wants, needs and desires – without seeing/realising/understanding that economics within this world is that which defines, shapes and forms my life – but since I was born in an environment with money to sustain myself, I don’t care about anything or anyone else, as I am in a position to entertain my thoughts and follow the energies as feelings and emotions within me – drifting away from the real world and the real suffering taking place every single day

I forgive myself that I haven’t accepted and allowed myself to see and realise that that which really matters is the Real Character within and as the Physical, and within that I forgive myself that I haven’t accepted and allowed myself to have seen/realized my responsibility within ensuring that all Real Characters as Physical Bodies are equally taken care off as myself – and thus I must make it my quest to ensure that all physical bodies as myself are equally taken care off through educating myself on the system which drives and defines this wellbeing through the channelling of money as our economic system – so I may see/realise/understand how it actually operates and correct the flaws within the economic system as I correct them within myself within taking responsibility and embracing the Real Character as the Physical – to make sure that we establish an Economic System of Care, which ensures everyone’s wellbeing within the understanding of that which really matters, which is that which is always Here as this Physical Existence – while thoughts, emotions, feelings, energy, likes and dislikes end at the point of Death, and can thus be completely disregarded

I forgive myself that I have accepted and allowed myself to want to place the responsibility of fixing the Mess we created on Earth upon the shoulder of others – without seeing and realising that we created this Mess through collective agreement, and thus it will require collective agreement Breath by Breath to Clean up our Mess as we re-create the current World of Abuse to a World that’s Best for All – which is the only Creation worthwhile investing in. And within that I forgive myself that I haven’t accepted and allowed myself to realise my responsibility and live my responsibility Breath by Breath within correcting myself and this existence as myself – the same way as I moment by moment through only ever living within and through Memories and various different Characters, created this Mess in the first Place

I forgive myself that I haven’t accepted and allowed myself to see and realise that within wanting others to “fix the problem” – I am in fact signing away my right to Life, as within the statement of not wanting to take responsibility – I state that I do not care – and thus, others should not care about me – and within that place myself within the position of slave where I am bound to go through whatever it is others decide for me, and within that I have no right to complain, because after all: I signed away my right to Life

I forgive myself that I haven’t accepted and allowed myself to see and realise that living a Li(f)e where I do not take responsibility and am an absolute slave by my own doing – is not a nice way to go through life – and thus I stop and I embrace responsibility within the realization/understanding that, that which I require to take responsibility for is Equal and One to and as my nature as that which I require to face and correct within myself – which is the only way we can ever correct this World for real, anything less would be a delusion – and so I/we walk, Breath by Breath, correcting ourselves and this moment with every Breath we take as our Commitment to Life

Commitment Statements to follow within next blog

Day 37: Can’t Hide from Economics - Part 1

When I was younger, I did not want to know anything about economics. I had the belief that it was hard, complex and that I was just not in a position to understand it. I stayed away from the subject, ignored it and focused on “my life”.

Yet, it is the current economic system within this world which ‘defines’ my life and which provides the framework and rules within which I live out my life, and to an absolute extent decides what I can and cannot do with my life. Thus, to ignore and shy away from economics, is really a stupid decision, as economics within this world is what gives and defines the shape, form and direction of your life. Even if you decide to ignore economics and how it operates, you are still controlled by it – and within not wanting to look at economics you are merely placing yourself in a position of disempowerment, as you are deliberately denying yourself the tools with which you can change your life, your world. If you do not know and understand economics, you are excluded from the economic debate. You won’t know what anyone is talking about and thus you are unable to give your input, and thus excluded from the conversation by you own doing, within not wanting to educate yourself about economics.

I was very aware that I had a resistance towards money and economics throughout my life, as something that was apparently too much ‘out there’, and thinking that “But I’m not able to understand this, it’s too complex! Let me just not even bother trying” – so when the Equal Money point opened up and we’d start to have conversations and meetings about the point – I felt left out. I had absolutely no idea of how any of it worked and thus I saw myself as unable of being part of the solution as the Equal Money System. And so I realised: this is where I have to go, this is what I have to take on – this is how I can prove to myself that I can indeed change and expand myself, as this was one of THE points that I could never see myself being able to grasp and work with: “Me? Talk about Money and Economics? Noo… that’s not me! I don’t do / know that stuff! There’s other people out there who are designed to do this type of thing and who like it – let them be concerned with it, I’ll just go and continue with ‘my life’ ”

What’s interesting to be observed from this thinking pattern I just laid out, is that obviously those people who are inclined towards economics are then the ones who end up with all the knowledge and power in terms of how this world works and then they can thus manipulate the world so that they can be at the receiving end within the money game, while everyone else is at a loss because they decided that they “don’t like economics” and within that gave their power away to those that do know economics to rule the world on their behalf and with their permission – within that moment of “not wanting to know how the world works” which is really just another way of saying “I don’t care, leave me alone to do what I want” and thus we all within this gave our “okay” to those in power to do as they please and thus create the mess that has been created – and within that acceptance and allowance: we are equal creators of this mess, and within the realisation that we are all creators either actively by being those with the power and knowledge, or passively through simply not caring – we see and realise our point of responsibility and move our asses in gear so we can no longer accept this ‘laissez-faire’ attitude. Which is fascinating, because the free-market system is often referred to as ‘laissez-faire’ (= “let it do its thing”), which is exactly the attitude so many of us have towards economics, where we just ‘let it do its thing’ without bothering to find out what it’s about, without ever seeing and realising the real impact economics has on our lives and the lives of others and thus within that very acceptance of ‘let it do its thing’ created an economic system which ‘does its thing’ and doesn’t care about anything or anyone – just as we didn’t care about economics, which is really about the distribution of Life. I mean, wouldn’t you like to have a say in how Life is distributed within this world? It’s your Life too!

So, there you go, it’s quite a fuck up – but now we can see and realise the part we have to play and see and realise that we have to educate ourselves on this matter so we can have a say about HOW LIFE IS DISTRIBUTED WITHIN THIS WORLD – and stop this stupid game of some having more than others because we couldn’t get over our egos as our likes and dislikes. I guess that’s why it sounds like 'egonomics’.

And here I am today, studying, reading and writing economics – while this was something I had deemed impossible for myself and something I did not want to do -- yet this has been one of the greatest journeys I took for myself, as I have empowered myself to see beyond “my life” (which I actually didn’t really see anyway, as I did not see and realise that “my life” was subject to economics) and now see how the Life of Earth as Earth and the interaction of all its inhabitants plays out, with money as the driving force, the blood pumping through the veins which decides all outcomes about Life on Earth.

So I invite you to join me in the Journey of Learning about Economics – so you can empower yourself to have a say in the distribution of Life -- as from now on within this Blog we’ll be walking the Economic System from beginning to end, explaining how it operates, applying Self Forgiveness and Scripting the Correction as the Equal Money System – so we can remind ourselves to never ever make this same stupid mistake again, and be responsible human beings, responsible creators – and thus once and for all establish a World which is in Fact Best for All, so we can actually live for the first time.

Enjoy!