Today’s episode is part of our Playlist series. We’re inviting artists, curators, architects, filmmakers, cultural producers and other listeners to share episodes from their Fresh Art International playlists.
Born and based in Miami, Eddie Arroyo is a landscape painter who documents residential and commercial structures that urban development will soon erase. He chronicles the loss of a community’s cultural, social, and economic fabric. In his photo-based practice, Arroyo hopes to spark conversations about prosperity and accountability within the American social system. He’s a participating artist in the 2019 Whitney Biennial, at the Whitney Museum of American Art, in New York. Here, he introduces The Art of Capitalism, a 60-minute segment released in 2018.
Arroyo writes: Over the years, Fresh Art International has contributed to Art World discourse through informative, relevant and challenging podcast. One notable episode, The Art of Capitalism, was posted in August 2018. Right now, in what is being framed as a period of economic prosperity, this episode invites meditation regarding “the free market,” with projects such as the Occupy Museum collective which explores the financial consequences of debt – even going so far as hosting a “Debt Fair.” In London, an artist couple opened their own bank to print money, with plans to blow up a van filled with loan debt as a part of their “Bank Job” series. And there is Reverend Billy of the Church of Stop Shopping who preaches the word to his growing congregation and anyone who wishes to join.
About The Art of Capitalism: Today, capitalism, also known as “the free market,” is linked to trade wars, massive student debt, entire countries going bankrupt, burgeoning virtual currencies and coded security systems. What does art have to say about our careening global economy?
In abandoned bank buildings, failed urban development projects and public squares, we discover artists and their communities in the U.S., Western Europe, South America and Greece, taking on the challenge—as whistle blowers, catalysts, educators, money makers, evangelicals and documentarians.
Featured in this episode: Occupy Museums/Imani Jacqueline Brown, Kenneth Pietrobono, Noah Fisher; Fictilis/Andrea Steves and Timothy Furstnau; Museum des Kapitalismus/Julian and Janosz; Musée du Capitalisme/Samuel Hus and Chloé Villain; La Torre de David/José Luis Blondet, Ángela Bonadies and Juan José Olavarría; Bank Job/Hilary Powell and Dan Edelstyn; Reverend Billy and the Stop Shopping Choir
Sound Editor: Anamnesis Audio | Special Sound: Ángela Bonadies and Juan José Olavarría; Bank Job; Reverend Billy | Contributing Producer: Anamnesis Audio for Reverend Billy Segment | Featured Photo: Big Bang 2, Bank Job Pictures, London, May 2019
Related Episodes: Poetry, Art and Community Justice, The Art of Breaking the Bank, The Art of Capitalism, Where Art Meets Activism, Occupy Museums: Artists and Debt
Related Links: Decolonize This Place, Occupy Museums, Museum of Capitalism: Fictilis, Museum des Kapitalismus, Musée du Capitalisme, Bank Job, Reverend Billy and the Stop Shopping Choir, SITE Santa Fe SITElines: Casa tomada
