Archive of Will Brand

AFC Editor-in-Chief Will Brand is a Brooklyn-based writer, programmer, and artist, who joined Art Fag City in the fall of 2010 after finishing his MSc in Art History at the University of Edinburgh. His main interests lie in net art and criticism, but he does a bit of everything around a blog (a sad consequence of web development skills). He’s also written for The L and CityArts, and his work has been republished in Junk Jet and on The Creators Project.

Will has written 126 article(s) for AFC.

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Will Brand

Why is Sanja Ivekovic Plagiarizing From Wikipedia?

by Will Brand on June 14, 2012
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Documenta is trying very, very hard to be smart. It might help if they stopped giving us plagiarized Wikipedia articles as artworks.

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The Very Finest Place to Put Your Vacuum: Rachel Harrison’s The Help

by Will Brand on June 13, 2012
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I suspect Rachel Harrison knows how strange it is that her artworks are expensive luxury goods. As you enter her current exhibition, the first work you see is a gangly pile of styrofoam that looks like somebody spraypainted on a tree; around its base lies an ironic tangle of the low, silver barriers museums use to keep you off their valuables. The show, entitled The Help, features a half-dozen sculptures and twenty-odd drawings, each of which taps into a particular kind of ugly-pretty; they scream rebellion, but will still make for a nice contrast in the mid-century modern living rooms of their future owners. Until then, they look great at Greene Naftali.

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Nine Quotes about Art as an Investment

by Will Brand on May 21, 2012
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Whether you’re a collector, a dealer, or just an observer, the art market can be a confusing place. Right now, since we’re in yet another art bubble, it’s a very expensive confusing place. Like most expensive confusing places, it’s full of people who want your money, and who would like you to believe that giving it to them constitutes a wise investment.

So, to commemorate the launch of artnet’s new art market index and the eruption of ill-advised bright ideas that’s sure to follow, we’re here to remind you that art will probably never make you any money.

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Hennessy Youngman Goes Direct To VHS

by Will Brand on May 10, 2012
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One line at the bottom of a press release caught my eye: “Jayson Scott Musson’s work is now available through EAI’s distribution service. For more information, please click here.” If you ever wanted the YouTube star on U-Matic or Beta, this is your chance.

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Okay, So Who’s Gonna Run Rhizome?

by Will Brand on May 7, 2012
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C’mon, who’s it gonna be? Rhizome has posted a job listing to replace Lauren Cornell as Executive Director, but nobody seems to have any idea who could replace her. The applicant would need to be familiar with net art and new media, have curatorial and/or grant-writing experience, and have the ability to bring in cash money from donors and collectors. Who fits that profile? We have no idea.

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Now with Coco Fusco and David Shrigley! The Sotheby’s Art Handler Petition Grows

by Will Brand on May 4, 2012
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Our petition in support of the locked-out art handlers at Sotheby's just breezed past 2,000 names, and you just might recognize a few. Artists Cuco Fusco, David Shrigley, and Dana Schutz have signed on, along with a host of other concerned supporters from across the art world.

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“C.R.E.A.M.” at Art Micro-Patronage, Now in Excessive Detail!

by Will Brand on April 27, 2012
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Lindsay Howard’s exhibition “C.R.E.A.M.”, at Art Micro-Patronage, examines a few approaches to the problem of monetizing net art. I, in turn, am going to examine “C.R.E.A.M.”, in entirely too much detail. Let’s talk about net art.

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Will Comparison Shoppers Hurt VIP Paper?

by Will Brand on April 18, 2012
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Tomorrow, VIP Art Fair opens its works-on-paper spinoff, VIP Paper. It’s a great idea—works on paper are generally cheaper, and generally editions, so some of the anxiety of purchasing a work sight unseen is eased—but its inaugural year inevitably raises questions about how to sell editions online.

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Review in Brief: Stan Douglas at David Zwirner

by Will Brand on April 17, 2012
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Stan Douglas is continuing with the historical fauxtojournalism project he started a few years ago, where he meticulously recreates photographs that may or may not exist. The final photographs are large, richly colored, and attractive, but their conceit may be wearing thin.

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