ATC: Caroline Woolard, What is a Work of Art in the Age of $120,000 Degrees

Often legitimized by its relationship to higher education, a work of art in the US today is a product of the classroom. What are the implications of debt, rent, and precarity on culture? This talk presents findings about the poverty rates, rent burdens, and occupations of artists by BFAMFAPhD. Outlining the contradictory ways in which artists navigate solidarity economies within capitalism, the talk is an encounter with mutual aid networks, open source software, and community land trusts.

Caroline Woolard has a strong commitment to the solidarity economy movement and to conceptual art. She is currently working on supporting affordable, community land trusts for cultural resilience.