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topic archives: fun 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 III-2004: 03 07 08 08-2 22 IV-2004: 18 V-2004: 10 18 18-2 20 25 27

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related material
the mechanics of inflation

a true bonfire of the vanities
[A major fire has destroyed British ‘artwork’ made during the last ten years, that was being stored in a warehouse on the outskirts of London.]

the ‘idiots’ who buy this stuff use it as money. it has provenance.
it is hard to duplicate (as if anyone would want to),
thus it is effectively used as a substitute for fiat money.
this is a money system that has, in the past, tended to inflate in price rather than deflate.

this current stuff is, of course, almost all total tripe, unlike some earlier ‘modern’ work.
it is not purchased on merit, but on signatures. the signatures are promoted by advertising.

much of the earlier work was collected by eye.
now a great deal of it actually attempts to ‘shock’ or ‘offend’, to be ‘controversial’, to get it talked about.
again, advertising.

many of the london galleries are full of the stuff, mostly distinguished by its lack of merit, aesthetics or even of artisan competence.

in my view, in due course, most of this stuff will devalue, as people in the art world cease to pretend this stuff is ‘significant’ or even ‘art’ in any meaningful sense. maybe that is already happening.

this was a true bonfire of the vanities.

related material
the mechanics of inflation

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