ronan mcdonald

This man, he sometimes talks a lot of sense...

"The internet provides space for criticism and analysis of niche interests, which, because of space limitations, conventional publications do not. But this atomises cultural discussion, to the detriment of the wider public sphere. Those who want to join the arena for, say, performance poetry or the work of minor film-makers or installation artists may well be drawn to relevant websites, but this will disperse the arenas for debate and evaluation. Non-initiates are unlikely to stumble on the relevant sites, which may become, instead, hermetic discussion circles for those already won over to the cause. The danger, again, is that while everybody's interests are catered for, nobody's are challenged or expanded."
(p.15-16, "The Value Of Criticism", The Death of the Critic, McDonald, Ronan, Continuum, 2007)

Last night, following on from a lecture given by Gu Xin in Critical Enquiry Research (using her own model of cultural studies in the UK), we had a discussion about the fact that, although the 'opportunity' (and I use this word advisedly, because personally I believe this to be illusional) is now present for everyone to be equally creative, equal cultural entrepeneurs - clearly, not everyone is. Everyone has equal access to culture, according to some thinkers: but the over-supply of cultural goods causes homogenisation AND diversity. It's a bit like walking into your local Woolworth's or Cole's and railing at the lack of choice, despite the seemingly endless aisles. (Why don't you shop at the Saturday food markets, one masters student wanted to know. You try shopping at Saturday food markets with a three-year-old complaining every dragged step of the way, I retorted.)

The commercialisation of Western society has led academics to start equating creativity with profit, almost to the degree that art cannot be art unless it makes money. But wait! Who is deciding this? Who is funding the universities?