How To Make Money With Art (read: how to rethink 'art')
Though various traditional economic tools have attempted to do so, rationality fails in many ways to account for value. Which is one of the reasons I love Caleb Larsen's explorations into it's nature. Primarily seeking to answer the question of how to make money with art, he's done some interesting work in creating value.
A Tool To Deceive And Slaughter:
Every ten minutes the black box pings a server on the internet via the ethernet connection to check if it is for sale on the eBay. If its auction has ended or it has sold, it automatically creates a new auction of itself.
If a person buys it on eBay, the current owner is required to send it to the new owner. The new owner must then plug it into ethernet, and the cycle repeats itself.
(current eBay auction price: $4,250; Larsen gets 15% of each sale)
$10,000 Sculpture (in progress):
The functional core of this work is that it is forever ‘in progress.’ The work exists primarily at the moment of contribution by the viewer.
I took a dollar bill accepter and installed that into the wall, so...it just simply takes people's money.
Below Larsen explains his approach and ideologies below:
(2:41) "Well, you can sell your work...or, you can just have your work take people's money."
I'm savvy to the Significant Objects project for the same reason. These are otherwise mundane things, sold on eBay a hundreds of times more than their 'market value,' simply because they come with a well-written but fictional story about their origin. (This is disclosed clearly to potential buyers; the latest round of objects has generated of $1000+ for charity)
And of course who can forget RAD TO THE POWER OF SICK:
This is a max wicked sick BMX. It's a Reliance Boomerang and it's done heaps of maximum extreme stunts. I have mostly done stunts on this bike since forever. Once I did a boom gnarly stunt trick on it and a girl got pregnant just by watching my extremeness to the maxxxx. Some details about sickmax BMX: Comes with everything you see including:
TOPS AS SUSPENSION REAR FORKS!!
2 x wheels
1 x seat
I will even thrown my sick BMXing name for FREE - Wicked Styx.
Has minor surface rust on handlebars and front forks (easily removed). More rust on rear forks (as shown in pics). Tyres hold air but are pretty old. Basically, it's an old BMX, but it's radness is still 100% in tact. Tricks I have done on this BMX:
Endos - 234.
Sick Wheelies - 687.
Skids - 143,000.
Bunny Hops - 2 (my brother dared me to do them, which I did because I'm Rad to the power of Sick).
Flipouts - 28.
Basically if you buy this bike you will instantly become a member to every club that was ever invented, worldwide, because you will be awesome. Pick up from Richmond in Melbourne. Throw your hands in the air like you just don't mind.
One of my favorite definitions of art comes from Seth as we interviewed him for PSFK (see: Seth Godin Talks To PSFK About Linchpin): "Art is the intentional act of connecting to someone else and changing them."
