I ’M PORING IN WONDERMENT OVER A The Interventionists was published in 2004. The
coffee-table art book. It’s The Interventionists: museum show in Massachusetts was even earlier.
User’s Manual for the Creative Disruption of So this art book predates MAKE magazine. Were
Everyday Life. This is one art book with a definite O’Reilly Media and the Massachusetts Museum of
make-do attitude. What maker couldn’t want some Contemporary Art eagerly comparing notes on the
“creative disruption” in his or her everyday life? East and West Coasts? No, this is not a conspiracy or
Unless that disruption is, like, Jehovah’s Witnesses a coincidence — this is what we trendspotters call a
at your door or something. “groundswell.” It’s a general cultural change that is
This art book does not mention Jehovah’s manifesting itself in both tech culture and art culture.
Witnesses; basically, it’s about ticked-off, way-out Geeks and fine artists are jostling onto the same
Situationist lefties with design, engineering, and art page. The older labels just don’t quite fit in the 21st
degrees, who use street theater and weird gizmos to century. The divisions between art and tech are
freak out and repel global capitalists. starting to bore and irritate people. That gap is less
How interesting that a fine art museum has relevant to everyday practice. It has less to do with
done a popular show about these characters. And what gets accomplished.
the MIT Press did their book, too. How come? I My hunch is that this change has got everything
really have to wonder. to do with the internet. “Creatives” — that’s the new
It’s all about means, motive, and opportunity, that’s what. Federal support for the arts has collapsed, so there’s no real need for art museums to act all stuffy and official any more. With so little left to lose, they might as well go hog wild. They’ve got no money left — but these Interventionist artists, just like MAKE types, are noncommercial zealots, so they work really cheap. Their left-wing political antics must be mighty entertaining to the people of
Massachusetts, that bluest of blue states. They also tend to work in loose, collaborative, hackerly gangs of activists, which is a remarkable departure for the tag — are webbed together now. The art world and fine art world. In fact, that makes them look just like the tech world still don’t talk to each other exactly the open-source tech world. Huh. — but they can Google each other in a nanosecond.
Artists have “audiences.” Technologists have So they’re getting cozier, less remote. It’s pretty hard “users.” This art book insists on calling itself a to be elitist, obscure, avant-garde, and highfalutin “User’s Manual.” It isn’t one, because it’s got no when any smart guy with a browser can slurp up your how-tos, recipes, assembly instructions, or open website and link to all your friends. So why make a big source code. It’s still chatting to a fine art audience don’t-touch-me fuss about your tight little hipster of connoisseurs instead of arming the restless stovepipe? You might as well just spew in all directions masses with weird Yippie gizmos. However, it’s and hope for some distributed intelligence. getting pretty close. To the modern powers that be — your city council,
This book is about artists determined to get right for instance — artists, designers, and techies are out there and mix it up on the streets. Their museum all “creatives” from the “creative class.” That’s a show sounds way more like a Maker Faire or Bar Camp mushy label for a genuinely mushy situation. Many than it does like some normal weekend museum of these Interventionists (I’m sure they hate that outing for culture-conscious Boston consumers. label) could slide into MAKE magazine with great
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