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It's just an art project, a means for public servants to redistribute excess public cash to their artsy friends instead of improving the common good. Don't read

It's just an art project, a means for public servants to redistribute excess public cash to their artsy friends instead of improving the common good. Don't read too much into it, at most be angry if you are a dutch taxpayer.

lvass 4y ago
This is why ancaps exist, folks. I thought everything in this page was some lame prank, but now I fear the staff part might actually be true.
- kennywinker 4y ago
  It's an arts research organization, of course it has staff. The staff aren't working on "tiny mining" they're working on art projects - one of which is tiny mining. > V2_, Lab for the Unstable Media is an interdisciplinary center for art and media technology in Rotterdam (the Netherlands). V2_ presents, produces, archives and publishes research at the interface of art, technology and society.
kennywinker 4y ago
Yikes. Not a fan of publicly funded art, hey? I'm not going to try to convince you otherwise, but I am going to put a note here so people think critically about what you said - first off, cultural impact - during the cold war the CIA dumped many uncounted millions into arts funding in an effort to control people's perceptions. By most accounts it was a success, and ideas they funded have dominated the way people think about art, creativity and communication ever since. Next, value for your dollar. Sweden funds their music industry to the tune of something like $30-40 million, and the industry returns that in the billions. Funding the arts is profitable. Public arts funding does suffer from cronyism and nepotism, so does literally any other type of government spending - but at least where I'm from most of the arts funding bodies are actively trying to solve that, I don't think you can say the same about defense contractors.
- hobo_mark 4y ago
  I am very much into art, I assume more than the median engineer, and several of my friends are actual artists. Neither CIA psyops, nor profitability of the Swedish music industry, nor defense companies have anything to do with this article, or with art. Otherwise thanks for mostly agreeing with my only point, I guess.
  - kennywinker 4y ago
    > It's just an art project, a means for public servants to redistribute excess public cash to their artsy friends instead of improving the common good. Improving the common good is one of the direct effects of publicly funded art, As the swedish example shows. The cia psyops are more of a nod to how powerful it can be in ways that can’t be measured via GDP. Not always for good, but impactful either way. You may not like this piece, but just like in tech startups, you have to fund some failures to find the good.
- lvass 4y ago
  >Sweden funds their music industry to the tune of something like $30-40 million, and the industry returns that in the billions What a silly argument. I'm sure the US somehow funds the tech industry, but would you attribute the entire tech revenue to them?
  - kennywinker 4y ago
    Can you name another country with ten million people and anywhere near the impact on global pop music as sweden? I’m not arguing that every dollar of that is because of their funding system. But their outsized impact is clearly partially due to their funding system. Denying that is like denying that y combinator helps businesses succeed. Funding when you’re getting started matters
- zekrioca 4y ago
  It is evident that the emphasis on supporting rhythmic music since ABBA (~1970's) has really borne fruit, so much that their brand has recently started business to IP music. However, there is still a sense that not too many pop music will be recognized on equal terms with other kinds of music and other cultural expressions, financially and otherwise.

lvass 4y ago

This is why ancaps exist, folks. I thought everything in this page was some lame prank, but now I fear the staff part might actually be true.

kennywinker 4y ago
It's an arts research organization, of course it has staff. The staff aren't working on "tiny mining" they're working on art projects - one of which is tiny mining. > V2_, Lab for the Unstable Media is an interdisciplinary center for art and media technology in Rotterdam (the Netherlands). V2_ presents, produces, archives and publishes research at the interface of art, technology and society.

kennywinker 4y ago

Yikes. Not a fan of publicly funded art, hey? I'm not going to try to convince you otherwise, but I am going to put a note here so people think critically about what you said - first off, cultural impact - during the cold war the CIA dumped many uncounted millions into arts funding in an effort to control people's perceptions. By most accounts it was a success, and ideas they funded have dominated the way people think about art, creativity and communication ever since. Next, value for your dollar. Sweden funds their music industry to the tune of something like $30-40 million, and the industry returns that in the billions. Funding the arts is profitable. Public arts funding does suffer from cronyism and nepotism, so does literally any other type of government spending - but at least where I'm from most of the arts funding bodies are actively trying to solve that, I don't think you can say the same about defense contractors.

hobo_mark 4y ago
I am very much into art, I assume more than the median engineer, and several of my friends are actual artists. Neither CIA psyops, nor profitability of the Swedish music industry, nor defense companies have anything to do with this article, or with art. Otherwise thanks for mostly agreeing with my only point, I guess.
- kennywinker 4y ago
  > It's just an art project, a means for public servants to redistribute excess public cash to their artsy friends instead of improving the common good. Improving the common good is one of the direct effects of publicly funded art, As the swedish example shows. The cia psyops are more of a nod to how powerful it can be in ways that can’t be measured via GDP. Not always for good, but impactful either way. You may not like this piece, but just like in tech startups, you have to fund some failures to find the good.
lvass 4y ago
>Sweden funds their music industry to the tune of something like $30-40 million, and the industry returns that in the billions What a silly argument. I'm sure the US somehow funds the tech industry, but would you attribute the entire tech revenue to them?
- kennywinker 4y ago
  Can you name another country with ten million people and anywhere near the impact on global pop music as sweden? I’m not arguing that every dollar of that is because of their funding system. But their outsized impact is clearly partially due to their funding system. Denying that is like denying that y combinator helps businesses succeed. Funding when you’re getting started matters
zekrioca 4y ago
It is evident that the emphasis on supporting rhythmic music since ABBA (~1970's) has really borne fruit, so much that their brand has recently started business to IP music. However, there is still a sense that not too many pop music will be recognized on equal terms with other kinds of music and other cultural expressions, financially and otherwise.