Hats off to Kent, who still has brain cells left after DEMF :)
-Gil
with anti-capitalist shoes
On Sat, 2 Jun 2001, Kent williams wrote:
quoted 60 lines On Fri, 1 Jun 2001, Alex Morken wrote:
> On Fri, 1 Jun 2001, Alex Morken wrote:
> > >Mr. Hawtin, allow me to introduce you to capitalism. Capitalism, Mr.
> > >Hawtin. No, the pleasure is mine.
> >
> > Who said he agreed with capitalism?
> >
> If you saw how nice Richie's shoes are, you'd know that he's no enemy
> of capitalism. But that's really beside the point. Richie is a really
> smart businessman, and his success as a capitalist enables him to
> spend the money on his art.
>
> Carl Craig is an artist, and a capitalist as well. And a fan of
> quality footwear.
>
> The whole controversy over Craig's firing arises from an intense difference
> of opinion between Carol Marvin of Pop Culture, and Mr. Craig about the
> direction of the festival. Mr. Craig collaborated willingly with the
> corporate sponsors of DEMF, and to their credit, the corporate sponsors
> were willing to give him a free hand to determine the artistic content
> of the festival.
>
> The result was stunning, at least to me -- Almost without exception
> the artist line-up was chosen for artistic qualities over aboveground
> commercial appeal. What's more, something like 1.5 million people of
> all ages, races, and fashion sense were exposed to amazing music -- some
> for the very first time.
>
> Logistical problems were few -- the worst being the crush in the Underground
> stage for Autechre. As far as I know there were fewer arrests than would
> be expected for any crowd of that size. In Detroit, at least, the distinction
> between the music and the scarier aspects of rave culture were made crystal
> clear.
>
> The complete invisibility of Pop Culture and Carol at the event, the
> ubiquitous signs of support for Craig, and the pointed statements from
> the Mayor's office recognizing Craig's contribution, all make for
> a moral victory at least.
>
> Keep this in mind: this was a free event, comparable in size to the
> last Woodstock where everything ran smoothly and everyone went home
> safe and happy. and we all know what happened at the last Woodstock!
>
> Capitalism works best when it's balanced by a sense of Communitarianism --
> where the urge for personal gain is balanced by altruism. When greed
> holds sway everyone suffers, and when no one is taking care of business,
> everybody suffers. When there's a synergy between Capital and
> Community, both can prosper, and DEMF 2001 proved this to a fare-thee-well.
>
> As for capital A Art and Capitalism, a similar balance has to exist.
> Not all art can be made in the shed out back for free. Sometimes the
> scale of the project requires big money, and there's no other option
> than to cooperate with the people who cut the checks. It's not
> necessarily a bad thing -- corporate patronage is all that keeps symphony
> orchestras playing in this country, and no one complains about that.
>
>
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
> To unsubscribe, e-mail: idm-unsubscribe@hyperreal.org
> For additional commands, e-mail: idm-help@hyperreal.org
>