{"id":5108,"date":"2011-12-22T20:14:35","date_gmt":"2011-12-23T04:14:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.law.harvard.edu\/yulelog\/?p=5108"},"modified":"2011-12-22T20:14:35","modified_gmt":"2011-12-23T04:14:35","slug":"wheres-our-i-claudius-when-we-need-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/yulelog\/2011\/12\/22\/wheres-our-i-claudius-when-we-need-it\/","title":{"rendered":"Where&#8217;s our &#8220;I, Claudius&#8221; when we need it?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>When I read about <a href=\"http:\/\/flavorwire.com\/243995\/the-naughty-list-the-most-controversial-cultural-icons-of-2011#10\">art events like this<\/a>, I can&#8217;t help but think of <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/I,_Claudius\">I, Claudius<\/a> and its relentless chronicle of Rome in decline&#8230;<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8230;performance art legend Marina Abramovi\u0107 created a stir when she was accused of exploiting other artists during L.A.\u2019s MOCA gala. Guests at the posh event paid up to $10,000 dollars so they could be seated at one of her tables decorated with centerpieces that included rotating human heads and naked bodies pseudo-copulating with skeletons. Gala guests were allowed to touch the performers and feed them, because the live tabletop pieces signed a non-disclosure agreement and were paid off with a whopping $150 bucks that allowed them to be manhandled as desired. (<a href=\"http:\/\/flavorwire.com\/243995\/the-naughty-list-the-most-controversial-cultural-icons-of-2011#10\">source<\/a>)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Who are these $10K-per-plate patrons of the arts who shock and amuse themselves by feeding or otherwise stimulating human centerpieces?<\/p>\n<p>(See also this article about an <a href=\"http:\/\/hyperallergic.com\/41377\/sara-wookey-yvonne-rainer-letter-moca\/\">artist who protested<\/a>.)<\/p>\n<p>On the erosion of the middle class, see also <a href=\"http:\/\/www.pbs.org\/newshour\/bb\/business\/july-dec11\/makingsense_12-22.html\">Rich Shopper, Poor Shopper (PBS Newshour, Making Sen$e)<\/a> &#8211; high end and low end are &#8220;doing alright,&#8221; but the middle is absent.<\/p>\n<p>The poor artists are renting themselves out for $150 at events where the rich pay $10,000 to support the arts. This is one f-upped world.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/I,_Claudius_%28TV_series%29\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/en\/c\/c7\/I_Claudius_titles.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When I read about art events like this, I can&#8217;t help but think of I, Claudius and its relentless chronicle of Rome in decline&#8230; &#8230;performance art legend Marina Abramovi\u0107 created a stir when she was accused of exploiting other artists during L.A.\u2019s MOCA gala. Guests at the posh event paid up to $10,000 dollars so [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":311,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1823,1652,1404,912,96],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5108","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-arts-canada","category-authenticity","category-justice","category-philanthropy","category-politics"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/yulelog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5108","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/yulelog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/yulelog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/yulelog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/311"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/yulelog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5108"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/yulelog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5108\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5111,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/yulelog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5108\/revisions\/5111"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/yulelog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5108"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/yulelog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5108"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/yulelog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5108"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}