My agent is making me lamer

GOOD LINKS#

• The origins of the algorithm (Art Forum) — The second in a series of deeply researched essays in Artforum tracking the origins of the algorithm as an organizing structure of modern life. From cartography to gambling to bombing campaigns and war, this wide-ranging montage across the past century is a recommended and eye-opening read.
• My agent is making me lamer (Priyanka Desai) — Highly recommended personal essay about the life impact of using AI agents to run your personal, social, and professional lives. The takeaway? Heavy investments in AI-assisted personal optimization caused the author to spend more time on the computer, more money buying things (AI agents make it easy), and become more individualistic (more time spent alone and with her agents). Desai theorizes that this might be what the early stages of an AI-assisted life might look like, that she hopes gets outgrown. But what if this is the whole point? More spending, more time alone, more time using technology — outcomes that deeply rhyme with the goals of capitalism and modern technology. Liberation — or just more of the same, but without people?
• Tracy Emin on the three stages of creative life (Louisiana Channel) — Run don’t walk for this beautiful clip of British artist Tracy Emin reflecting on her creative instincts across three distinct phases of her life. Wonderful and worth meditating on.

DFOS Spotlight: Alone Together#

We’ve long enjoyed and admired the work of Sound of Fractures, a London-based musician who creatively pushes the boundaries of how to share their work and connect with audiences. These include two Metalabel releases: SCENES: Prompts to Reflect Post Card Book, a set of postcards with prompts for slowing down and sharing memories, and the Alone Together Conversation Cards, 46 questions about music and memory, with a series of shows built around them. 

Jamie Reddington, the artist behind Sound of Fractures, runs each Alone Together night in two halves. In "Alone," the room listens closely to live performances. In "Together," conversation cards get strangers talking to each other. After the June show, the crowd stayed outside talking. As one guest told Jamie: "Thank you for creating a space for the things that happened to happen." 

Earlier this month Jamie opened the Alone Together DFOS space to everyone who had been to a show, and more than 90 people have joined in three weeks. They trade what they're reading, watching and listening to and one member has already asked who he'll meet at the next show, October 8th at the FUJIFILM House of Photography in Covent Garden. 

Jamie builds these worlds because algorithm-driven life online feels shallow to him, and he thinks everyone is feeling it too. We agree. 

Explore it for yourself: alonetogether.dfos.com

Invite: Upcoming Artist Corporations talks#

Over the coming weeks, we'll be bringing Artist Corporations in front of several important audiences.

Today in New York, we'll be speaking at a Center for Art Law event, with both in-person and online viewing available (more info here). Next week we'll be in Washington, D.C. for the National Arts Association conference, joining arts leaders from Colorado, Connecticut, and Yale on a panel about new models for creative people. The following week we'll be at the Empire Arts Summit in Albany, as work begins toward bringing A-Corps to New York. Exciting stuff. Maybe we'll see you there?