Art and Labor

Hey Upper East Siders. The gossip gxrlies are here, and they’re queer stoners now. Our main characters are #1 Charlie Markbreiter, author, PhD candidate, editor at The New Inquiry, and mod of the Death Panel Discord #2 O.K. Fox, Sonic the Hedgehog fetishist and degenerate podcast host. Together they synthesize why white trans guys are … Continue reading "181 – Gossip Girl Fanfic Novella w/ Charlie Markbreiter"

It’s the Christmas reunion special! And how else to possibly celebrate the reason for the season but a long hard look at the Ukranian Russian conflict whose escalation this year has injected so much misery into our lives? That’s right folks, Lucia’s back for one night only, coming out of their well as an update … Continue reading "180 – Artists in Times of War"

This week Art and Labor is joined by Vera Drew, director of The People’s Joker, history’s most anticipated queer-coming-of-age indictment of the contemporary comedy landscape through the lens of Batman’s Rogues Gallery. We yak it up with Vera over the stunning consistency Ben Folds has to the queer experience, the tenderness of her relationship with … Continue reading "179 – Joker Proletarianism w/ Vera Drew"

OK opens this panel by accosting the Nowadays crowd, a necessary struggle session to ground the conversation physically to art venues’ position to PR, finance, and real estate. We then discuss strategies and wins from music worker organizing with members of Union of Musicians and Allied Workers and Music Workers Alliance. We are honored to … Continue reading "178 – Music & Labor Penny Fractions Panel w/ David Turner, Joey La Neve DeFrancesco, and Phillip Golub"

OK enlisted two of his favorite One Piece freaks—fashion designer and DJ/Producer of Str8 to DVD Sam Branman, and cartoonist August Lipp—to talk critically about the most popular series on the planet who many (present company included) have enjoyed for 15+ years. Although the movie is a big commercial for a vtuber, it has a … Continue reading "177 – One Piece Film Red w/ Sam Branman & August Lipp"

Everyone’s favorite psedo-anonymous arts organizer Nick returns with a thoughtful critique and history of what the group INCITE! coined “the Non-Profit Industrial Complex.” We discuss many of the points from the 2007 (😭 ) manifesto including how NGOs monitor and stunt the power of social movements, allow the ruling class to mask their exploitation through “philanthropy,” … Continue reading "176 – How NGOs Fail Us w/ Nick"

*come to our live show nowadays 11/9* Woop woop! OK is joined by longtime collaborator, fellow Sparks fan, and prolific artist of many materials including blown glass, jeans, wood carvings, and marzipan—Sessa Englund! It’s a Halloween festival of takes about culture, masculinity, and that ol’ chestnut “can an art space serve the public over capital?” … Continue reading "175 – Cultural Perverts w/ Sessa Englund"

The Band in Hell by Electric Six The band in hellPlays all night longIt’s a sold out showAnd there is only one song There is no rhythmAnd there is no rhymeIt goes on foreverUntil the end of time And now the devil he plays guitarAnd Hitler plays the drumsI’m the man on the microphoneThis is … Continue reading "174 – Coolest Neighborhood in Hell"

Fall has felled us once again, and it’s time to ask yourself: what if you went ahead and displayed the target goth home accessories year round? Would you be a better or worse person for it? What would Bjork’s new album do? This week we do some processing over whether the entropy death of neighborhoods … Continue reading "173 – Liberate Westchester"

A message to the people of Bushwig: BREAK THE CHAIN, ANNEX MASPETH. What is this episode? If I recall correctly we discuss how capitalists attempt to resolve what communist art theorist Adam Buttrick calls “the Bad Vibes Contradiction” through crypto, AI, Canva, and other data vultures in the culture industries. Chelsea Manning DJs Nightcore, not … Continue reading "172 – Nightcore over Hyperpop"

A special presentation for all the “social-sim” listeners- take a deep breath, and when you’re ready, slowly close your eyes to imagine yourself in a world where your friend is high out of their mind, and yet still able to set up a mixer? What if someone took longer to explain the plot of a … Continue reading "171 – Adam Driver IS Yaoi"

The long-awaited part 2 of A&L’s side pod, Fielderwatch, taking on the series finale of The Rehearsal with twitter’s most famous husband, Alec Robbins, and friend of the pod and union-certified painter of tunnels onto walls Hannah Guerrero! For a show that adores how tv gets made, it equally adores the psychological trauma of doing … Continue reading "170 – Nathan For Art 2 w/ Alec Robbins & Hannah Guerrero"

You’ve had your hot girl summer, white boy summer, and if you’re anything like us, you’ve still tossed and turned in your ac-less bedroom, dreaming of something greater. That’s why we’re partnering with the UN Gift Garden to present- Mastaba Snoopy Nonbinary Freak Summer! And kicking it off this week OK and Sarah are joined … Continue reading "169 – Dog Soldiers w/ Spike Einbinder & Khamara"

OK and Sarah this week cover the first two episodes of Nathan Fielder’s new video art collection The Rehearsal and larger labor politics of cast and crew, the work’s relationship to his former practice on Comedy Central, and the 2010 Tino Sehgal performance of This Progress at the good ‘ol famously liberatory Gug. Do you … Continue reading "168 – Nathan For Art"

We’re joined by distinguished panelists Beatrix Urkowitz and O Horvath, Kirby pornographer and Furry toy maker respectively, for a discussion we’re calling “On Moe.” Within anime fandom—what is appropriate and why? In this clip our guests bring great insights from the radical feminist writer Joanna Russ and an accidental Deleuzean analysis of Kirby. The rest … Continue reading "ART AND LABOR PRESENTS: ON MOE (preview)"

Artist, librarian, and furry historian O Horvath (aka Popple) is BACK! We discuss a YouTube video with over 270k views that believes the Renaissance was either made by computers or a mystical power—ancient alien cranks also racist against Italians. Public education is clearly failing, and even though libraries and archives will not save us, we … Continue reading "167 – Who Archives the Internet Archive w/ O Horvath"

Get ready to be triggered ’cause watched HBO’s Euphoria to join what feels like a mass movement to re-live highschool as self harm. An exploitative show about exploitation, all shot on film for an extra 20k per episode. Gilded age 2 baby, get on the combination MetroNorth/LIRR and lfg!!! We do a quiz in part … Continue reading "166 – Euphoria Highschool Student Union (Part 1)"

Fan favorite Sam Lefebvre’s newest work, the three-part series “A Generous Grift” for San Francisco-based community art space The Lab, is finally all here! We here at A+L felt the spacetime ripple from the upload and bolted awake in a cold sweat. Taking a magnifying glass to some particularly local, incredibly bold, and somehow publicly … Continue reading "165 – A Generous Grift w/ Sam Lefebvre"

We brought in writer and certified Canadian Graham (@GrahamSig) to discuss the bittersweet bummer that is the current state of the Toronto Comic Arts Festival. He shares over 10 years of TCAF memories with us, which is extremely helpful to the analysis we’ve been trying to pull out of our asses about the YA-ification of … Continue reading "164 – TCAF Dispatch w/ Graham"

OK catches up with fan favorite fourth mic Joey De Jesus (@DeJesusSaves) to talk Pride month, gossip about NYC local elections/budget woes, and the trap of Puerto Rican statehood. Would you join the Queer liberation army? There’s gonna be sparkly maces involved! Also we’re leaning into groomer, it’s gonna be a whole problem. The establishment … Continue reading "163 – Groomer Pride w/ Joey De Jesus"

I’m just asking questions- what if it all turned out to be lead the whole time? Generation theory: just lead? 20% chance of causing runaway climate collapse in this century, and people really want to get on our ass because of an insatiable desire (well, technically very satiable) to eat a Blake straight from the … Continue reading "162 – Gun Cube Enclosure"

OK gives Sarah a full Toronto report: new Kids in the Hall p good, Canada does not understand iced coffee or hanami, “New York” mode is real and you can harness it to mixed success, and alt comix lanlord art appears as TCAF is being shock doctrine’d?? We eventually get to our review of Everything … Continue reading "161 – The Wretched of the Multiverse"

We’re back! And we brought the artist and vtuber sometimes known as POPPLE (aka swordsinverted). Get ready for your shift at the pussy eating factory, ’cause we’re on some sort of deranged queer Stalinism kick. We discuss information and cultural preservation work, living in punk houses, big tech in anime, and the escalation of the … Continue reading "160 – Living Our Fontosy w/ Popple"

A return to definitely a type of form, the Galleria caucus of Art and Labor (OK and Sarah) reckon with the eternal struggle of Knowing They Did A Gentrification To Bushwick. You, reader, however, are now yourself trapped in my web, unable to stop passively reading this sentence, which is that Kylie Minogue always has … Continue reading "159 – Fire in the Disco"

Our Canadian/Britney correspondent (and brilliant cartoonist) Eric Kostiuk Williams is back! We wildly speculate on the Grimes Chelsea Manning e-girl royal wedding, and navigate the messy state of traveling in covid times. Western countries have clearly given up on virus mitigation, how are we taking care ourselves as we’re forced under demonic spell of 𝔢𝔠𝔬𝔫𝔬𝔪𝔦𝔠 … Continue reading "158 – World of Statecraft w/ Eric Kostiuk Williams"

Music business criticism expert, creator of the fantastic Penny Fractions newsletter, and honorary co-host David Turner is back to discuss the depressing merger of Bandcamp and Epic Games. Can companies maintain consciousness? What role does giant multinational corporations like Tencent and Apple play in the geopolitical sphere? Are Fortnite dances going to overtake the petrodollar … Continue reading "157 – Tim Epic’s Bandcamp w/ David Turner"

We were mentioned in enemy of the show the New York Times by friend of the show Zachary Small! The movement to organize art and cultural workers has been steadily growing despite pandemic setbacks, how do we feel about it? We promise to never do the cis white art bro thing and claim to be … Continue reading "156 – The Art Worker Organizing Movement"

Fresh off an empty post-industrial mall cinema viewing, we discuss the Gesamtkunstwerk Jackass Forever with lauded expert in the field of suburban whiteboy studies, Sean J Patrick Carney (@ripcytwombly.) We’re clearly very psyched to have the original “I’m Ira Glass. Welcome to Jackass” on the show to wax insanity about queer theory, masculinity, PTSD, and … Continue reading "155 – Jackass Cultural Studies w/ Sean J Patrick Carney"

WATCH IT HERE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYO_uyLqPu4&t=3137s Are AMVs proletarian or free fandom labor for multinational media companies? Where do Anime Music Videos sit in Hito Steyerl’s “an alternative economy of images” and can someone be the Dziga Vertov of AMVs? Are AMVs subjected to a particular nation state? This is the second session of Constructing the Real’s … Continue reading "Constructing the Real’s Art Worlds – Anime Music Videos: an Artform and Culture"

Performance artist, meme maker, genius Shawn Escarciga (aka @Missladysald) enters the pod chamber. We discuss better practices for indoctrination like yassifying Rennesme and putting goatse Marina Abramovic on a t-shirt. Can we do successful bait and switches with the PMC? Is it possible to isolate the radical nuggets inside everyone via the social media brain stem hookup? Let’s find … Continue reading "154 – Socialist Fanfiction w/ Shawn Escarciga aka Miss Ladysalad"

There is a fifth dimension beyond that which is known to they/thems… It is a dimension as vast as the list of tags on Archive of Our Own and as timeless as Spongebob backpacks… It is the middle ground between “kirsten dunst opening a book to hunters in the snow” and “going full ted”, between … Continue reading "153 – Earth II"

Wanting to fuck candy is the ultimate drive of any American, are we not just all in a snow globe within Ed Bernays mind palace? Turns out tailoring artmaking to surveillance state media platforms was bad for culture and our psyches?? Join us at the intersection of self-flagellation and market-driven analysis this week and learn … Continue reading "152 – Larry’s List, Biennial Man"

Plants have been here longer than people and they have some wisdom to share! Last time we did tarot it was a big hit so we’ve conjured a truly intense reading for the future of America. How will the death go down? It’s honestly beautiful to think about, but before that we talk nu nu … Continue reading "150 – Tarot for US Empire"

Wanna hear us be on one? Then press play, and subscribe to our patrons only feed if you want to find out what cube you are on our brand new premium pod “QUIZILLA 2” ⚠️ ALERT: JOIN OUR SCHOOL, NEW CLASSES DROPPING SOON! Please reach out to join the discord for “Constructing the Real” NOW! If … Continue reading "149 – Funny Monkey"

Welcome to the Garden of Theory and Praxis, the Graveyard of the Vibes, the world that has been pulled over your eyes to blind you from the truth, it’s Art and Labor! Joined by champions of the pod David Turner of Penny Fractions and Liz Ryerson of The Blood Zone, we reckon with teleology and … Continue reading "148 – Pivot to Metaverse w/ David Turner and Liz Ryerson"

Please enjoy this poetry. A behind the scenes origin story, details that give context for this journey. Violence. If you like the podcast and want more, please consider supporting us: https://www.patreon.com/artandlabor. Follow us on twitter and instagram. You can contact Art & Labor [email protected]. Please reach out to join the discord for Lucia school “Constructing the Real” Also! Write us a review … Continue reading "147 – Holiday Special Event"

Well pholks, know that we tried this week- a hot and fresh Art and Labor from our minds to yours! OK tries to “read” (personally never heard the term) an article to Lucia and Sarah about the Metaverse, and since this is as spoiler-free space, let’s say we might get to that. Total y2k vibes … Continue reading "146 – Mr. Beast’s Serfs (Part 1)"

Participation trophy caucus of A+L (OK and Sarah) discuss How To with John Wilson’s first episode of their new season, “How to Invest in Real Estate”. We truly love John Wilson, he’s our generation’s neurotic New York white guy, but not a scumbag. As we pray for his career to continue to flourish, let’s do some critical … Continue reading "145 – How To Become Middle Class"

Warning for live human shit, sexual trauma, suicide, anger, and misery. We had a night on the town to see the new off Broadway production “while you were partying” by Peter Mills Weiss and Julia Mounsey with Brian Fiddyment at Soho Rep! Its a fantastic new play for the irony poisoned, N64 modding, suicidal incel … Continue reading "DISPATCH – while you were partying"

Welcome to Art and Labor your #1 source of queer nu metal speculation and investigation. Nostalgia is the reason for the season so we’ve brought on fellow scholar of early 2000s media, Matt of Machine Girl. Turns out genres are just genders! We host an open dialog on our common areas of expertise, Spiderman Elsa … Continue reading "144 – Mormonism 3 w/ Matt Stephenson of Machine Girl"

Strap on your headsets! OK, Lucia and Sarah sit around the ol vr hot tub with you, the faceless facebook mii we serve. This week we wanna tell you the good news! about our RPS fic featuring your favorite fuzzy childhood Nu Metal Queer Icons, the intersection between Bushwick Nationalism and Operation Paperclip, and yes, … Continue reading "143 – Fred Durst, Queer Icon"

The id must flow! On today’s episode OK and Sarah talk to cartoonist of Mr. Boop fame Alec Robbins about the on-going mass personae of twitter and irl experiments with identity via Halloween/anime conventions (we should probably read Capitalism and Schizophrenia, idk) Cosplay is just Halloween in the expanded field. Alec, the good one, updates … Continue reading "142 – Alec Takes w/ Alec Robbins"

Mom (Joey) left $20 on the counter so Lucia and Sarah are eating powdered donuts for dinner, joined by special guests Hannah Bluhm and Dani Castone, two Mills College Alumni with the scoop on the school’s latest implosion. From farming the school’s history of an inclusive, diverse student body to buff up degree mill stats, … Continue reading "141 – Save Mills College"

Don’t tell them we told you this, but even though we got the best art friend split heart necklace with jerry saltz at the Manhattan mini mall last week, we actually think YOU’RE our best art friend, we just feel bad for them and our mom made us do it. This week Lucia, OK and … Continue reading "140 – Fake Art Friends"

The goop is class consciousness. Painter and nu-metal expert Kevin Stuart came to visit us in NYC! The main point of his trip was to see Venom 2 (which we saw after this ep so it’s spoiler free!) Kevin and Lucia have been working synthesizing Venom and Marxist thought for the past couple of years, … Continue reading "139 – Labor Theory of Goop Value w/ Kevin Stuart"

The gang is joined by former SFMOMAunion bargaining committee member, and current artist and educator Jessalyn Aaland! We have a lovely discussion around her beautiful and informative risographed booklet series Organizing Power (contents available for free to institution and nonprofit workers interested in unionizing their workplaces!!). You wanna hear STRATEGY? We have OPINIONS. Get the … Continue reading "138 – Organizing Art Worker Power w/ Jessalyn Aaland"

Art and Labor is joined by members of the union-to-be of Baltimore’s Walters Art Museum, the Walters Workers United! OK and Lucia interview Ruby, Garrett, and Allison (who we unfortunately lost connection with!) about their path towards worker organization- from your standard total mismanagement of COVID in 2020 to toxic fumes passing staff out; dealing … Continue reading "137 – Walters Workers United"

Content warning right at the top we talk about heavy stuff like addiction and sexual abuse, but also this conversation is really funny like an episode of Stella comprised of three art freaks instead. Please follow Caroline (@sticesticestice) and stream Stice for clear skin. Did you know? Your favorite artist’s former girlfriend probably makes amazing … Continue reading "136 – Laughing at Pain w/ Caroline Bennett of Stice"

Transgression: who is she? Is she real? Is she dead? OK and Lucia are back to their roots, being ON ONE. Covering a range of topics that all make sense together I swear. We start with the Laura Kipnis essay “Transgression, an Elegy” which is difficult to separate from Kipnis herself, the fucking harper’s letter … Continue reading "135 – Zombie Transgression"

I have a particular love of songs about how much it sucks to be famous, and true story was the world’s worst English teacher at a summer camp in China and made a bunch of mystified 12 year olds watch the video for Lucky like four times in a row to do a really bad … Continue reading "134 – Britney and Liberation w/ Eric Kostiuk Williams"