The Role of the Art Critic, Midwestern Artistic Identity, and the Automation of Literature, Electronic Art, Higher Education, and more . . .
A discussion between Heartland Arts KC and Alexej Savreux
It is the 18th of December, 2023. To all of my readers and subscribers, I wish you a beautiful and pleasant end to this year, the happiest of holidays, and a joyous New Year’s and a year ahead. In the weeks ahead, I’ll post a long-form 1.5k (or more) piece on an expressionist painter from Chicago, exhibiting periodically in Kansas City, Missouri. However, I wanted to close out what is likely to be the last post of this year (potentially) with a link for all of you to a 37-minute (approximately) interview between Heartland Arts KC (a KCK-based 5013c non-profit organization integrating performing arts with public policy and art politics and political activism) and myself on their official YouTube channel for your viewing pleasure. Indeed, it carries a characteristically idiosyncratic manner that has characterized so much of my media appearances over the years. While this video interview is condensed to about 37 minutes, it should be noted that our initial cap was about 20 minutes. I went off on many circumstantial and tangential loops here and there and gave them well over an hour of material to work with. This year especially has been marked by many media interviews, but very few have been published or used (although some certainly have). I gave another video interview to The Chicago Council on Global Affairs (a non-partisan think tank in Chicago, Illinois) back in May 2023, with our topic being the AI labor force, the global economy of big tech, and related matters. It was supposed to be about 20 minutes, but I went off on about 2 hours of (arguably, unnecessarily) verbose tangents. Unfortunately, that video was never used due to a change in the reporting direction. So imagine my surprise and appreciation when this video with Heartland was published; perhaps not within the scope or viewership of a Council video interview, but a fun time and a great conversation between the Executive Artistic Director and Founder of Heartland Arts (Logan Stacer) and me. We discussed the role of the art critic, the midwestern artistic landscape and identity, the arts economy, AI and automation, the writer’s strike, economic displacement, literature, and many other things optimistically. So, without any further verbosity or ado, I’d like to present my readers with this direct, exclusive (free) full-length video link as a kind of “end-of-year, X-mas gift” of sorts. Again, I wish you all nothing but health, happiness, peace, prosperity, and fun over the next few weeks, and I’ll be back soon with more art crit (and record reviews!) for your continued enjoyment in the year ahead.
VIDEO INTERVIEW LINK:
HeartlandArts KC Interview with Alexej Savreux
Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas to all, and to all, a good night!!
Peace and Love,
~ alexej