Marketing Ceasefire

from the blog Screen Machine

Almost everything that is beautiful eventually gets eaten up by capitalism, almost every moment of creative individuality becomes transformed into cultural capital, almost every struggle against homogeneity becomes a niche-marketing ceasefire.

In praise of the Chicago cable access program Chic-A-Go-Go, Australian critic Brad Nguyen disparages the cannibalistic arts industry. It's an admirable sentiment, but jumbled by "ceasefire." Nguyen probably means "open-fire" or "blitzkrieg" or something like that.

Unless a "ceasefire" means perfect, undisturbed conditions for selling art. Then it would be a "niche-marketing rookery." Nguyen's metaphor is cogent if warfare is being contrasted with art-dealing, but if he wants to liken warfare to art-dealing, then it isn't.