Conceptual Art: A Critical Anthology - uncopy

function more efficiently? I find it hard to believe it is for my advantage. And what about all
those questions concerning the culpability of the roles that the staff identify with?
What debilitates these efforts at unionizing and socialization is the tendency to pin hopes
on liberal reformist programs (and not very forceful ones at that). These imply everyone confining
themselves to agitation for changes which do not challenge any foundations of the organizing
structure, changes which are compatible with the preservation of these foundations.
My point is that, no matter how much we empathize with these endeavors, the most
critically important factor keeps getting lost. It cannot be stressed enough that a community,
no matter how small, is unavoidably and importantly a political instrument, and a potentially
aggressive one at that—finally perhaps the only one left to us. If we don’t take advantage of
this, we may be able to do absolutely nothing. 11
MIGHT WE BE ABLE TO TRANSFORM OUR REALITY?
So I come, finally, to a note of guarded optimism. Although there is scant evidence for it at
present, I would hope for and not rule out the potential for a distinctive consciousness and
solidarity developing out of a “community of artists.” There are uniquely changed social conditions
here in New York, so it is just possible that such a consciousness may be at odds with the
status quo. In some subjective sense we may come to terms with the reality of our own experiences
and “reintegrate” our fragmented existences. But that is high optimism because, against
that, increasingly formidable odds are working. It is almost gratuitous to point out the stupefying
indoctrination of the media and educational processes.
While a collapse of our privileged economy is hardly desirable, it seems a prospect to be
faced—and one “logical” outcome is likely to be that much of the manipulated market demand
for modern art may simply evaporate. That doesn’t mean the market will magically cease
to be monopolistic. No, only that it will have shrunk considerably, leaving a demand for a
much diminished workforce. Thus we may initially experience a phenomenon similar to the
cutbacks in scientific programs—an ever-larger surplus of trained “modern artists” for whom
there are no “jobs” in relation to the market. 12 At the same time, one cannot help but express
a masochistic curiosity about how much art will continue to be made if there is literally no
market demand for it. Because, while we have been able to sell modern art to Europe and other
Westernized countries, it is still moot whether it will be collected by the OPEC countries, the
new capitalists challenging the United States as the major exporters of inflation. Presumably,
ian burn the art market 331