Scott Timberg, an arts journalist and author of the CultureCrash blog on ArtsJournal, has a new book out called… Culture Crash. It’s Scott’s attempt to look at how the digital revolution has impacted artists. The tagline of the book – “The Killing of the Creative Class” – gives you an idea of what he thinks has happened.
His premise is that artists are having a more and more difficult time making a living from their work. Ultimately, he thinks, without viable ways of supporting themselves, artists will top making art and do other things. We, as a society will be impoverished by this. We sat down to talk about the book last month in LA. Have a listen:
I am so glad he wrote this book. I have been living this nightmare since 1984. He seems to have nailed the roots of the crisis on the head. The negative review in Slate and the nasty comments seem to show that we have now raised a society of younger people who just don’t care. They are ignorant and are content with that. Nourished by a steady stream pop-culture junk of lower and lower quality, where the Simpsons reign supreme, with minds controlled by Apple and other digital services providers, by devices, they are incapable of pure, independent thought, and insensitive to art. We are entering a new Dark Ages, having been born to the end of what will be seen as a second Renaissance, where the tender strands of culture will only survive in the hands and minds of a view, and among the few wealthy who have any culture.
What is truly sad, is that without a fundamental change in our society’s values, without government regulation of the media, without government stipends, or major changes in the IRS, it will continue to get worse and worse. It would take massive amounts of money to provide an adequate supply of housing, of a minimal income to support artistic professionals to continue their work. It would take an abandonment of capitalism. We are not Europe, and it won’t happen. Europe may hopefully continue to support its culture. We will continue to dominate the world with pop-culture crap. The fact is, you cannot reach the level of artistry without ample time to study and grow, which means having housing, health insurance, and enough to eat and buy clothing. The situation is not helped by those trendseekers who seek to destroy the definitions of art and bring down its standards. If you can’t define art by its high level of craftsmanship and technique, if it is just an idea anyone can make or copy, if it is just a trend, if art can be show-and-tell/school project “installations,” then anyone can “be” an artist, and that makes it impossible to support actual artists, because their recognition, their definition has been co-opted by charlatans.
I very much enjoyed your articulate comments. My only objection would be to the fatalistic idea that America can’t change, that it can’t someday have a public system of arts funding like the Europeans. If one had said in 1950 we would someday in the not so distant future have a black President, they might have thought you were crazy. We can change, even if slowly.
I haven’t read the book (I just ordered it) but Timberg is spot on! I use to live in San Francisco and today I’m located on the north side of the Golden Gate Bridge. Until the late 1990’s, San Francisco use to be one of the most beautiful and creative, artistic cites in the world. Today, it still has its beauty, but has lost its creativity and, thus, its soul. It is now all form and no content. For one who has lived in, as well as known, San Francisco, its creative ambiance is gone and I can honestly say I am mourning this loss.. San Francisco is now an arena for the wealthy, interlaced with techie hysteria…so sad.
He’s a smart and important writer. Glad he’s bringing to light how deep seated this problem really is. Eye opening.
I haven’t read the book, but listened to the podcast. On the point of arts journalism, I do believe new digital technologies are allowing for greater diversity. In the past, being a music journalist/critic would require you to volunteer or write things for free for a certain period of time (which would only be possible for a certain class of people). Now, you can develop these skills while in other work. A less risky proposition.
I have started an arts blog http://culturehunterblog.org while in work as a Museum Director. My hope is to transition into arts journalism in the future. This wouldn’t have been possible 10 years ago. However, I do take the author’s point – by the time I build up the skills/reputation to make the transition, will there be any paying jobs in the field?