Joe Scanlan - Object Lessons

Once again we regress to the faimiliar, not on the basis of its merits but because it puts the most people at ease. However vexed we were by modernist ideology, the products resulting form the current consensus-based, consumer-driven, service economy are really starting to depress me. I miss having to accept something whether i like it or not, if only for the bits of stunning genius that single-mindedness made possible. Consumer culture, where is thy victory? Product, where is thy sting? Artist JOe Scanland's magazine columns from the past fifteen years have been gathered here as one long, picaresque narrative in which democracy plays the dishonest but amiable lead role, from the lumiere brothers' use of their employees in the making the first film to Tino Sehgal's use of meusuem visitors in the production of his art.