How to become each other's school
AUGUST 12TH, 2026
Today at 3pm ET, Yancey Strickler will host an information session on Artist Corporations that will include practical information, lots of details, and an open Q&A.
This week in culture and the internet
YouTube doubles the bar for creator monetization — New creators will need 8,000 watch hours (up from 4,000) or 20M Shorts views to monetize starting Feb 2027, and Shorts creators must sustain those numbers to keep earning. Another example of why creators need owned channels.
A song of the summer is likely AI and nobody cares — Fenix Flexin's "Rubberz" was made with an AI app and it's gone to #1 on the charts. Weirdly the biggest American chart hit for Morrissey/the Smiths? (Listen to the song and you’ll know what we mean.) Also recommended: Jasmine Sun on the Ezra Klein show on why the AI revolt is here.
"The Vanguard Orchestra" — A new Do Not Research essay argues visual artists lack collective labor power because they work alone, and explores what artists can learn from orchestras.
DFOS spotlight: clear.txt + Mozilla
In February, musician Vinny Bellavia started clear.txt on DFOS: “a small, self-aware, editorial scene” for people interested in cryptography, AI, privacy, and ownership. These weren’t subjects the art and music worlds he came from had much patience for, so he made a space for the conversation he wanted to have. Six months later, more than 1,500 people have joined.
This spring, an opportunity found Vinny through DFOS and clear.txt became a Mozilla Foundation grantee. When he needed a designer for the project, he posted an open call inside the space. Emil Blum, a designer in Portugal who had joined clear.txt only weeks earlier, saw it and reached out. They’d never met, but quickly discovered they shared the same values. Emil designed the product and its demo, while clear.txt members became its early testers. Now Vinny is paying Emil from the Mozilla grant through the clear.txt treasury.
An idea became a space; an opportunity found it; a collaborator came from the community; real work and money are now moving through it. A complete loop.
Here's how Vinny puts it:
“Since I was 17, I wanted a space where, if you have an idea bigger than yourself, you can have a community to collaborate with that can help make it happen. We accomplished that, and I think that’s good evidence that we can accomplish it many more times.”
Becoming each other’s school
We want to close with a project in Seoul we find especially resonant.
At the ARKO Art Center in Korea, eight artist collectives — 42 people — mounted an exhibition redefining what a school can be. Not school in the traditional sense, but:
“the connections and relationships formed by artists and collectives who autonomously sustain their practices at the margins of the system… Colleagues in the art world function as schools for one another. They share common interests and provide the support necessary to persist through creative struggles.”
They call this form of self-organization both “a way of life and a strategic choice.” A way to create autonomous spaces and agency in uncertain times. A way for all of us to become infrastructure for one another.
Learn more about the exhibit at e-flux.
Here’s to becoming each other’s schools.
— DFOS
