Comments on: Who needs critics? http://www.buzzmachine.com/2006/05/15/who-needs-critics/ by Jeff Jarvis Fri, 21 Nov 2008 23:39:21 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5.1 By: Pluralist Nirvana « Slow Muse http://www.buzzmachine.com/2006/05/15/who-needs-critics/#comment-365138 Pluralist Nirvana « Slow Muse Thu, 13 Dec 2007 12:58:24 +0000 http://www.buzzmachine.com/index.php/2006/05/15/who-needs-critics/#comment-365138 [...] excerpt from Buzz Machine is by Andras Szanto (who teaches at CUNY in the journalism [...] [...] excerpt from Buzz Machine is by Andras Szanto (who teaches at CUNY in the journalism [...]

]]> By: EverKarl http://www.buzzmachine.com/2006/05/15/who-needs-critics/#comment-48765 EverKarl Tue, 16 May 2006 17:15:12 +0000 http://www.buzzmachine.com/index.php/2006/05/15/who-needs-critics/#comment-48765 So, when was <i>Rolling Stone</i> hip? When they didn't get the Jesus & Mary Chain? When they didn't get Led Zeppelin? So, when was Rolling Stone hip? When they didn’t get the Jesus & Mary Chain? When they didn’t get Led Zeppelin?

]]> By: hey http://www.buzzmachine.com/2006/05/15/who-needs-critics/#comment-48610 hey Mon, 15 May 2006 23:55:54 +0000 http://www.buzzmachine.com/index.php/2006/05/15/who-needs-critics/#comment-48610 CD: The fact that you felt it necessary to maker your point here tends to refute it! Power laws will dominate in everything, but solely due to the rarity of attention. If you are good and unique, there are no barriers. The barriers are to the mediocre me-too people. There are some blogs that could have been you, if you got there early enough, but now you have to be good to supplant the crap that's already there. You can't win with derivative crap, unique crap maybe, but no derivative crap. The internet really does make things different, as there is no limitation in distribution. You can sell anything and everything, with as many different SKUs as you want. There will be less credentialisation, as people don't have to invest any serious money into you, so they can just try something if they like it. CD:

The fact that you felt it necessary to maker your point here tends to refute it!

Power laws will dominate in everything, but solely due to the rarity of attention. If you are good and unique, there are no barriers. The barriers are to the mediocre me-too people. There are some blogs that could have been you, if you got there early enough, but now you have to be good to supplant the crap that’s already there. You can’t win with derivative crap, unique crap maybe, but no derivative crap.

The internet really does make things different, as there is no limitation in distribution. You can sell anything and everything, with as many different SKUs as you want. There will be less credentialisation, as people don’t have to invest any serious money into you, so they can just try something if they like it.

]]> By: Christopher Dawes http://www.buzzmachine.com/2006/05/15/who-needs-critics/#comment-48591 Christopher Dawes Mon, 15 May 2006 21:33:04 +0000 http://www.buzzmachine.com/index.php/2006/05/15/who-needs-critics/#comment-48591 Sorry to cut to the real substance of Szanto's message while everyone trashes the minutiae... but hey, someone must. His analogy between the blogosphere and the artistic period of the mid-1970s is both insightful and instructive. As much (or more) extinction of creativity will be the legacy of blogging in our time than then, as indeed has been the legacy of many prior times (not just the post-1960s) which simplistically chose to skirt questions of merit and content instead of facing them. Market can dictate many, many things to our time - but not art, and not insight. The notion that some kind of anarchical Darwinist view of the Internet can provide a meaningful vehicle for either creativity or comment in our time is preposterous. I have argued frequently that the time will come when this works: all I'm saying is that it is NOT NOW. When collective consciousness and the necessary Internet infrastructure allow that time will come... but please, please, don't mislead a bright generation of critics into thinking that blogging is their ticket to visibility and viability. Wait until the print industry is colder in its coffin... and its just not there yet. -CD Sorry to cut to the real substance of Szanto’s message while everyone trashes the minutiae… but hey, someone must.

His analogy between the blogosphere and the artistic period of the mid-1970s is both insightful and instructive. As much (or more) extinction of creativity will be the legacy of blogging in our time than then, as indeed has been the legacy of many prior times (not just the post-1960s) which simplistically chose to skirt questions of merit and content instead of facing them.

Market can dictate many, many things to our time - but not art, and not insight. The notion that some kind of anarchical Darwinist view of the Internet can provide a meaningful vehicle for either creativity or comment in our time is preposterous.

I have argued frequently that the time will come when this works: all I’m saying is that it is NOT NOW. When collective consciousness and the necessary Internet infrastructure allow that time will come… but please, please, don’t mislead a bright generation of critics into thinking that blogging is their ticket to visibility and viability. Wait until the print industry is colder in its coffin… and its just not there yet.

-CD

]]> By: Tom Devine http://www.buzzmachine.com/2006/05/15/who-needs-critics/#comment-48570 Tom Devine Mon, 15 May 2006 19:43:09 +0000 http://www.buzzmachine.com/index.php/2006/05/15/who-needs-critics/#comment-48570 How silly to suggest that we need art galleries to sell art! Every webpage is a potential art gallery and every artist with a following can make money no matter what the snobs say. The tyrannical art critic who makes or breaks a careet is now a wooley mammoth sinking in a tar pit. Good riddance. How silly to suggest that we need art galleries to sell art! Every webpage is a potential art gallery and every artist with a following can make money no matter what the snobs say. The tyrannical art critic who makes or breaks a careet is now a wooley mammoth sinking in a tar pit. Good riddance.

]]> By: Alan Kellogg http://www.buzzmachine.com/2006/05/15/who-needs-critics/#comment-48556 Alan Kellogg Mon, 15 May 2006 18:29:26 +0000 http://www.buzzmachine.com/index.php/2006/05/15/who-needs-critics/#comment-48556 Tony my boy, you want to know who the good blogging critics are, keep your eye out for those who are getting a wide, and deep, buzz on the blogosphere. Most especially, a varied buzz on the blogosphere. A Depeche Mode album gets a lot of cross chat from a lot of people with a lot of different interests, that Depeche Mode album might be worth listening to. A blogger who has a wide and varied audience might be worth listening to too. Tony my boy, you want to know who the good blogging critics are, keep your eye out for those who are getting a wide, and deep, buzz on the blogosphere. Most especially, a varied buzz on the blogosphere. A Depeche Mode album gets a lot of cross chat from a lot of people with a lot of different interests, that Depeche Mode album might be worth listening to. A blogger who has a wide and varied audience might be worth listening to too.

]]> By: Trudy W. Schuett http://www.buzzmachine.com/2006/05/15/who-needs-critics/#comment-48555 Trudy W. Schuett Mon, 15 May 2006 18:27:20 +0000 http://www.buzzmachine.com/index.php/2006/05/15/who-needs-critics/#comment-48555 There always seem to be writers and artists who refuse, or don't know they have to promote their works, and that it is an unavoidable part of the process, if you're expecting to make a living from those works. It never ceases to amaze me that people think going to classes about your art for X number of years somehow imparts creativity and success all by itself. That is precisely how you limit yourself forever to mediocrity. There always seem to be writers and artists who refuse, or don’t know they have to promote their works, and that it is an unavoidable part of the process, if you’re expecting to make a living from those works.

It never ceases to amaze me that people think going to classes about your art for X number of years somehow imparts creativity and success all by itself. That is precisely how you limit yourself forever to mediocrity.

]]> By: Old Grouch http://www.buzzmachine.com/2006/05/15/who-needs-critics/#comment-48536 Old Grouch Mon, 15 May 2006 16:30:35 +0000 http://www.buzzmachine.com/index.php/2006/05/15/who-needs-critics/#comment-48536 <em>"The entry fee into a successful art career is a $60,000 MFA."</em> <strong>?!?!?</strong> Gee, I always thought that one thing that "validated" art was that "somebody liked it." I guess Szanto's world is all about credentials, manifestos, and gallery owners (and their clueless customers) who lack the confidence to look at a piece and judge it on its own merits. People afraid to make up their own minds without having heard from the "trusted voices" who will tell them whether they should like somthing or not. Glad I'm not part of it. “The entry fee into a successful art career is a $60,000 MFA.” ?!?!?

Gee, I always thought that one thing that “validated” art was that “somebody liked it.”

I guess Szanto’s world is all about credentials, manifestos, and gallery owners (and their clueless customers) who lack the confidence to look at a piece and judge it on its own merits. People afraid to make up their own minds without having heard from the “trusted voices” who will tell them whether they should like somthing or not. Glad I’m not part of it.

]]> By: Suebob http://www.buzzmachine.com/2006/05/15/who-needs-critics/#comment-48522 Suebob Mon, 15 May 2006 14:54:18 +0000 http://www.buzzmachine.com/index.php/2006/05/15/who-needs-critics/#comment-48522 I guess Szanto hasn't noticed the rise of the blogging arts and crafts movement...people selling their goods directly to friends, family and their peer group by showing their wares on blogs. Who needs a gallery wall when you have endless internet pages? I guess Szanto hasn’t noticed the rise of the blogging arts and crafts movement…people selling their goods directly to friends, family and their peer group by showing their wares on blogs. Who needs a gallery wall when you have endless internet pages?

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