This episode of The Dig is brought to you by our supporters on Patreon and by Verso Books,

which has loads of great left-wing titles, perfect for dig listeners like you.

One that you might like is Duty Free Art, Art in the Age of Planetary Civil War, by

Hito Styrel. What is the function of art in the era of digital globalization, how can one think of art

institutions in an age defined by planetary civil war, growing inequality,

and proprietary digital technology.

The boundaries of such institutions have grown fuzzy.

They extend from a region where the audience is pumped for tweets

to a future of neurocureting in which paintings

surveil their audience via facial recognition and eye tracking to assess their

popularity and to scan for suspicious activity.

In duty-free art, filmmaker and writer, Hido Styrel,

wonders how we can appreciate or even make art in the present age? What can we do when arms manufacturers sponsor

museums and some of the world's most valuable artworks are used as currency in a

global futures market detached from productive work.

Can we distinguish between information, fake news, and the digital white noise that

bombard our everyday lives.

Exploring subjects as diverse as video games,

WikiLeaks files, the proliferation of free ports,

and political actions, she exposes the paradoxes within globalization, political economies, visual

culture, and the status of art production.

Duty-Free Art, Art in the Age of Planetary Civil War by Hido Styrel.

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