The anti-financial industry Occupy Wall Street protests that have become a media sensation in New York City over the past few weeks have spawned an art-world offspring.

Begun early this morning, @OccupyArtWorld is agitating for change in the cultural landscape through a Twitter account and an active hashtag. The provocateur has already inspired some online debate in the art bloggerati.

The as-yet anonymous art-world protester kicked it off with an anti-commercialist manifesto:

Tired of the 1% controlling the direction of art. Museum exhibits based on Investment of wealthy. Reviews based on ad sales. #occupyartworld

The 1% controls art culture by investment. They have robbed art from the people. #occupyartworld #occupywallstreet

@OccupyArtWorld goes on to call out art blogs Hyperallergic and Art Fag City for selling ads and being controlled by buyers, which doesn’t seem exactly fair, given that the blogs have built reputations without ads, and aren’t even wholly ad-supported (try Artforum?).

“Behind every famous artist is a millionaire investing in a collection and influencing the direction of art with money,” the account writes. “Gallerinas could make more working the streets. Art dealers should pay them more. Harsh but true.”

While we might agree with the direction of some of @OccupyArtWorld’s ideas, the scattershot rhetoric doesn’t exactly seem to be helping. The account’s activist tone might be mistaken for art-world agitator William Powhida, but the artist has tweeted that he isn’t involved. More as it develops, and as @OccupyArtWorld pokes at other art netizens.

— Kyle Chayka

RELATED:

• ARTINFO wrote on the social media aspect of the Occupy Wall Street protests in “Agitprop 2.0: On Occupy Wall Street’s Social Media Revolution,” published last week.

Tags: Activism, Occupy Wall Street, Online Art World, Protests