Senior Vice President of Global Travel, Partnerships & Government, Avis Budget
Search every verified Stephen Wright interview, podcast appearance, and on-the-record quote — each transcript cross-checked by AI and human review to confirm speaker identity. Stephen Wright gave a talk titled "Usership: Tales of Life Onboard" at SALT Galata in 2018, discussing the concept of "usership" he developed in his book. He described usership as a transformation from passive spectatorship to active, meaning-producing userhood. Wright argued that art can gain use value by deliberately lowering its "coefficient of artistic visibility," allowing it to escape institutional capture and engage directly with life. He cited examples such as Argentine conceptualist and plumber Rival Pusap, who planted artistic ideas in his community outside the art world's performative frame, and Bernard Bruno, who reconciled use value and artistic practice by working as a house painter. Wright also discussed the "alternative ideological circuit" as a method of intervening on everyday objects like banknotes to insert political and artistic messages. He referenced the online archive "arg aaarg.fail" as both a functional digital library and a conceptual collective artwork. Additionally, he described a political gesture by three Slovenian artists who legally changed their names to that of populist leader Janis Yanchez, obligating them to speak in his name. Wright characterized politics as a process of "seeding an idea" that may initially face rejection but can eventually bear fruit under proper conditions.
“Politics is not just about a spontaneous popular congealing around an idea which is then demanded of the power. Now politics is about seeding an idea that first of all goes nowhere because everybody shits on it but that in time may either kill it or it may fertilize it and if it is nurtured and properly receives proper...”
“Rival Pusap deployed his artistic competence outside the performative framework of art and instead planted it in the hearts and minds basically in the public space of his community.”
“The idea of the alternative ideological circuit is to activate another functionality of the fiduciary system, for example, the paper money exchange system, by intervening directly on objects like banknotes or Coca-Cola bottles to insert political and artistic messages.”
“When art withdraws from the performative frame of the art world, when it escapes institutional capture and mingles with other practices beyond the frame of art, it loses its coefficient of artistic visibility but gains undeniable use value operating on the one-to-one scale.”
Pasif bir izleyicilikten bilgi, anlam ve değer üreten bir kullanıcılığa dönüşümün sanata etkileri nelerdir? Sanat kuramcısı Stephen ...
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