Episode 63 – Plátanito Protest
We originally recorded this episode as a Snackcast, our bonus feed, but liked it too much. Apologies for any munching and crunching, and for the even more causal tone than normal. We discuss working in Chelsea and art fairs as young people, insidious bootstrap mentalities, and the importance of centering marginalized workers. Don’t fall into spectacle mindset, if you must make a banana response please consider the janitorial/service workers that are often forgotten in this discourse (read about their protest in Miami here). If you like the podcast and want more, please consider supporting us: https://www.patreon.com/artandlabor. Follow us on twitter and instagram. You can contact Art & Labor at artandlaborpodcast@gmail.com
Link to the UAWMF action in solidarity with striking garbage workers video and our episode about them: https://twitter.com/ArtandLaborPod/status/1030106437698166784
Episode 62 – Amazon x Hudson Yards OTP
Warning that this episode is gets into some heavy allegories, we’re very raw in our feelings. That said, we discuss the latest on Amazon NYC, which despite the AOC spin, is NOT A WIN. We also touch on the latest Art Miami Basel controversy spectacle, and the state of gentrification and unionization. Plus we make a bunch of references to Rick and Morty, The Irishman, and Promare. It’s a postmodern nightmare. If you like the podcast and want more, please consider supporting us: https://www.patreon.com/artandlabor. Follow us on twitter and instagram. You can contact Art & Labor at artandlaborpodcast@gmail.com
OK and Lucia discuss burnout, survival gigs, the realities of gender presentation, and universal emotions. How does art influence the ruling class? And how do we examine our proximity to wealth, even if we aren’t collecting a living wage from that proximity. If you like the podcast and want more, please consider supporting us: https://www.patreon.com/artandlabor. Follow us on twitter and instagram. You can contact Art & Labor at artandlaborpodcast@gmail.com
Episode 60 – Marathon Man with Leslie Lee III
We’re joined by podcast legend Leslie Lee III (@leslieleeiii) to discuss the 1976 classic film Marathon Man. Dustin Hoffman plays a young graduate student roped into a high-stakes plot involving US intelligence agents, sadistic Nazis, and millions of dollars in gems. We explore the story’s underlying pro-communist elements and artistic motifs. It’s Struggle Session x Art and Labor!! Get some!! If you like the podcast and want more, please consider supporting us: https://www.patreon.com/artandlabor. Follow us on twitter and instagram. You can contact Art & Labor at artandlaborpodcast@gmail.com
Episode 59 – Cartoonists Against Amazon with Michael DeForge
The beloved Toronto-based artist Michael DeForge (@michael_deforge) joins us in studio to discuss comics, community spaces, and activism. We touch on his newest book, Stunt, as well as Leaving Richard’s Valley, Lose, Thickness, Adventure Time, and snag some info on his rejected pilot for Cartoon Network. Michael also co-authored an open letter to small press festivals urging them to drop Amazon as a sponsor, and is a participant in Toronto’s fight for 15, the campaign against Google’s Sidewalk Labs development, the recent LGBT community action admonishing the Toronto Public Library’s platforming of a transphobic speaker, and more! If you like the podcast and want more, please consider supporting us: https://www.patreon.com/artandlabor (if you support us on drip, please switch over). Follow us on twitter and instagram.You can contact Art & Labor at artandlaborpodcast@gmail.com
Tea Base & The Beguiling
READING – On (Surplus) Value in Art
*Come to OK’s panel on Sunday!* Welcome to the episode on Mehrwert aka the Marxist concept of Surplus Value. We read an essay by Diederich Diederichsen, it’s super useful for determining the differing placement of art and artists within the class framework. Read it yourself here, and let us know what you think! If you like the podcast and want more, please consider supporting us: https://www.patreon.com/artandlabor. Follow us on twitter and instagram. You can contact Art & Labor at artandlaborpodcast@gmail.com
I found this weird website categorizing books on surplus: http://thesurpluslibrary.com/books/all/title
READING – Painting as Theoretical Practice: Althusser and Supports/Surfaces
Let us read to you! This time an essay by Sami Siegelbaum in Selva Journal. Here is an excerpt: “although historical and dialectical materialism formed the basis of Supports/Surfaces’ theory and practice, it was not ‘art for the people.’ Instead, it was a ‘theoretical and ideological weapon for the petit bourgeois intelligentsia’ who would later join or ally with the working class. This thesis introduced the Maoist emphasis on the re-education of intellectuals into the sphere of French painting, while also acknowledging the limitations of a propagandistic figurative art.” Read the whole piece here, including pictures and footnotes. If you like the podcast and want more, please consider supporting us: https://www.patreon.com/artandlabor. Follow us on twitter and instagram. You can contact Art & Labor at artandlaborpodcast@gmail.com
More on Supports/Surfaces: https://frieze.com/article/enduring-radicalism-supportssurfaces
Episode 58 – Music and Labor with David Turner
Turns our those rebellious rock ‘n’ rollers were scabbing the classical nerds?! Hello everyone! You’re in for a treat! David Turner (@pennyfractions) joins us to discuss the history of musician unions in the United States. David’s newsletter Penny Fractions covers the contemporary music industry and the troubled landscape of streaming platforms, algorithms, and promotion. Please go subscribe to it! We tie historical problems to our contemporary situation, and mention New Jails NYC, the UAW GM strike, and the Chicago teacher’s strike. If you like the podcast and want more, please consider supporting us: https://www.patreon.com/artandlabor. Follow us on twitter and instagram. You can contact Art & Labor at artandlaborpodcast@gmail.com
No New Jails proposal: https://www.nonewjails.nyc/no-new-jails-close-rikers-now-we-keep-us-safe-guide
David’s reading list: The Gold in Tin Pan Alley by Hazel Meyer, Tell Tchaikovsky The News by Michael James Roberts, The Musicians and Petrillo by Robert D. Leiter
Episode 57 – Promare, The Joker, and Housing
Hey folks we’ve been super swamped, please enjoy this roundup episode about movies, and some city living problems so real it hurts. We discuss Glendale Community Board Meeting 5 and its larger implications on the city. NIMBYS, ugh, YIMBYS, ugh, the goal is housing for all in a way that won’t accelerate planetary collapse. It’s difficult and raw, and there is serious genocidal rhetoric in our way, but we do our best to unravel many concerns. Follow RTU for more info and upcoming actions.
If you like the podcast and want more, please consider supporting us: https://www.patreon.com/artandlabor. Follow us on twitter and instagram. You can contact Art & Labor at artandlaborpodcast@gmail.com
thread on the hearing with video:
https://twitter.com/DavidFBrand/status/1181370224555241472?s=20
highlights including the lady who threatened to burn the shelter down:
https://gothamist.com/news/angry-queens-residents-shout-down-plans-for-homeless-shelter-i-hope-someone-burns-it-down
OK Spoke at the meeting, you can see the whole thing here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eHBFVR4bUnI
Episode 56 – Art Workers Authorize Strike!
While congress is on vacation after finally committing to the slightest gesture towards holding the president accountable, workers all over the country are taking power into their own hands. At General Motors in Detroit 50,000 United Auto Workers have been on strike due to contract disputes, meanwhile some of the newest UAW Local 2110 members at the New Museum announced yesterday that they have authorized a strike if their demands for a fair contract still cannot be met. Plus, even more art workers have unionized! UOVO Fine Art workers join the Teamsters Local 814 and the New Children’s Museum joins IBEW Local 465! Stay tuned to the end to hear our thoughts on Amanda Schmitt’s Appeal Against Knight Landesman and Artforum, legal fights like hers is another important way workers can fight back against abusive employers. If you like the podcast and want more, please consider supporting us: https://www.patreon.com/artandlabor. Follow us on twitter and instagram. You can contact Art & Labor at artandlaborpodcast@gmail.com
Latest on the Artforum case: https://news.artnet.com/art-world/amanda-schmitt-appeal-artforum-1659862?__twitter_impression=true
Amanda Schmitt’s situation in her own words: https://www.textezurkunst.de/articles/miranda-warning/
Latest on the UAW GM Strike: https://www.clickondetroit.com/news/here-s-where-things-stand-on-the-uaw-gm-strike
Rhonda Lieberman on the exploitation of identity politics: https://newrepublic.com/amp/article/154991/rich-art-museum-donors-exploit-identity-politics-launder-reputations-philanthropy?utm_content=buffer13002&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer&__twitter_impression=true
Decolonize This Place’s latest action against the Ford Foundation: https://hyperallergic.com/519794/if-they-build-it-they-will-fill-it-prison-abolitionists-protest-outside-the-ford-foundation/
