<nettime> barneys, etoy and the dot.com worker

[CPVERSION SEVENTY <cp_v70@yahoo.com>]

>alex galloway wrote:
>why is Barneys [barneys.com] not art but Etoy is?
>they both have a corporate aesthetic.

no art responds:
both are suspect... the first is obvious because its
essential function is in the service of capital
selling a elevated class station and supposed status
to anyone who is caught offgaurd and/or sleeping.  the
second is a little more subdued.  etoy seems to
forsake any vital trangressive energies it might have
most obviously by its eventual compliance into a
certain "cult of personality"; not unlike barneys in
selling a product of "lifestyle" that basically
equates into a new liberal-left vogue or "simulated
act of transgression".  both barneys and etoy tell
lies only one does this under the guise of
establishment and the other under the guise of
anti-establishment.  

neither offer new models nor suggest other systems of
management outside this system. in fact both are
clever methods of incorporation into the established
system (accelerated capitalism).

etoy is arguably more detrimental to artists because
it offers a new space for further capitalist growth
and acquisition under the premise of the
"avant-garde".  in certain ways etoy operates on the
same level of the new dot.com scene: relaxed
workspace, casual-hip attire, a high level of formal
education, liberal politics... all elements of some
new-mythos to further compliment, comfort and further
seduce the worker and hyper-extend her energies of
production far beyond the designated "work-space".

twhid from mteww.com stated in a previous post
something to the effect of, "art isn't cool or hip or
always pleasing".  it is interesting and appropriate
statement from someone who is an artist supporting his
work via a dot.com and coming to the eventual terms of
its increasing madness upon the autonomous "act of the
corporate" instead of the preferred scenario of
vice-versa.  this skirts a serious problem with the
"artworld" (this online ghetto included).  there are
too many artists here that are too easy to get along
with.  it makes me happy to know "zero one dot org"
and brad brace both lurk out there somewhere...

-na


=====
////////////////////////////////////////////
*PLEASE DO NOT GO TO YAHOO.COM
*DON'T CLICK ON BANNERS EVER AGAIN
*CAPITAL & EXCHANGE ARE DETRIMENTAL TO THE PSYCHE
--INSTEAD GO TO:
http://www.artnetweb.com/peppermint
////////////////////////////////////////////

__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Send online invitations with Yahoo! Invites.
http://invites.yahoo.com

#  distributed via <nettime>: no commercial use without permission
#  <nettime> is a moderated mailing list for net criticism,
#  collaborative text filtering and cultural politics of the nets
#  more info: majordomo@bbs.thing.net and "info nettime-l" in the msg body
#  archive: http://www.nettime.org contact: nettime@bbs.thing.net